Marked for Reda Jaadi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Najran interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Nasser Al-Dawsari keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Reda Jaadi commits to Najran for another 2 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Najran run out of patience with the manager
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and the manager clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Feb 2027
9 matches without a win for Najran
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Najran are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match6 Feb 2027
0‑3 to Al-Nassr, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match6 Feb 2027
The goals have deserted Najran
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Najran can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad8 Feb 2027
81 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Najran know what they have.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Najran's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Najran has to find a result from somewhere.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Najran can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Najran
Mohammed Bu Sanda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match16 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Najran
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Reda Jaadi
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Najran
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Najran put the manager on notice
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Najran can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Najran
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Najran
Diego Venancio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Najran have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Manuel Pérez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Anger at Najran spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match28 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Najran
Position 14 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad28 Dec 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.63 for the rest of it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
Diego Venancio scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Al-Hilal, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Najran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The scrutiny sharpens at Najran
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Najran is running low.
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Up for the corner, and Duvier Díaz delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Duvier Díaz scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A goal and an assist for Reda Jaadi — 7.68
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.68 beside his name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Najran
Mohammed Bu Sanda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Duvier Díaz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Najran.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
13 matches without a win for Najran
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Najran are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Najran
Position 14 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Anger at Najran spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Najran may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.51 for the rest of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Najran
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Najran
Mohammed Bu Sanda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
Najran are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match10 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Najran against Al-Fateh
0‑2 to Al-Fateh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reda Jaadi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Najran
Position 12 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Najran
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Al-Faisaly left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Najran
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrew Brody, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Reda Jaadi runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Najran are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.