5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Wahda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Wahda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Miguel Terceros has let it be known that he does not like the way Al Wahda are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Al Wahda spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Wahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Wahda can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Wahda hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The name of Prince Guèye has come up in conversations Al Wahda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Wahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Wahda, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Wahda, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al Wahda pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Wahda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Jadsom has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Wahda hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Al Wahda have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Wahda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Wahda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Wahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Wahda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Dušan Tadić