Marked for Bassem Ben Aissa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Najran interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Faisal Al-Mutairi keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Najran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market6 Sep 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Najran close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Najran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
No deal for Hassan Rabea at that price
Najran offered $380.0K; Damac said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Amang is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Najran support went home talking about one name.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Najran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Najran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
No deal for Hassan Rabea at that price
Najran offered $110.0K; Damac said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market9 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Omar Al-Ruwaili again, and this time the name on the line is Saba. Najran are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Still nobody in the Najran dugout
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jallawi Al-Yami has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hussain Habkor and Najran agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Samuel Adegbenro has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Najran are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cotonsport Garoua waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Najran is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Najran asked and Al-Ahli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Najran pay Al-Fayha $1.3M for a proper upgrade
Al-Fayha did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.3M for Mansor Al-Beshe, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nawaf Al-Aqidi and Najran agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Najran
Diego Venancio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Amang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Najran will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Nawaf Al-Aqidi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
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.
Market5 Jul 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Najran have gone to Al-Fayha with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Najran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Thomas Amang 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Najran academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Najran
Adama Niane 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Saad Al-Mosa has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Najran have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Nawaf Al-Aqidi
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
It is over: Najran are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Market7 Jun 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Pressure builds in the Najran boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market7 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Thomas Amang again, and this time the name on the line is Cotonsport Garoua. Najran are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Najran heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
$3.1M taken back off the Najran table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Open for business: Najran enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nerves in the Najran squad
Samuel Adegbenro has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Najran board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad24 May 2027
Bassem Ben Aissa damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match24 May 2027
Najran sink to position 14
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Amang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Saad Al-Mosa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Najran say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bassem Ben Aissa
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Najran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Najran
Mohammed Tahiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market17 May 2027
The Adama Niane story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adama Niane signs something — a contract at Najran or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Amang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 May 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bandar Al-Ahmari has his answer from Najran; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Thomas Amang’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Najran know it.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Najran
Adama Niane 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Thomas Amang 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Samuel Adegbenro has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Najran are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
Market3 May 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Najran has been clear about where Abdulmajeed Al-Arishi stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout3 May 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Najran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Najran board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bassem Ben Aissa
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Najran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The name of Saad Al-Mosa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Najran say nothing, which says plenty.
Market26 Apr 2027
Najran have made Bassem Ben Aissa available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bassem Ben Aissa
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Najran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Thomas Amang 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
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bassem Ben Aissa damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Amang is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Still nobody in the Najran dugout
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saad Al-Otaibi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Apr 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Al-Ghamdi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad5 Apr 2027
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Najran
Diego Venancio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
news_h_severance_paid
news_b_severance_paid
Squad5 Apr 2027
Sharafi Al-Saleem 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Samuel Adegbenro is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Samuel Adegbenro is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Samuel Adegbenro. Najran will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammed Tahiri signs something — a contract at Najran or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at Najran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad29 Mar 2027
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match29 Mar 2027
Najran are in real trouble now
Position 14, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Amang is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Najran
Mohammed Tahiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Saleh Al-Rahmani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Najran will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Saad Al-Mosa story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saad Al-Mosa signs something — a contract at Najran or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bassem Ben Aissa
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Najran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Amang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Hussain Al-Eissa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Najran will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bassem Ben Aissa
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Najran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Najran can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Najran
Adama Niane 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Michel Babatunde wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Najran now know that too.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Adegbenro and Najran agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Najran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Salman Al-Shammari is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omar Al-Mansour has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Omar Al-Ruwaili is on it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulelah Al-Jaafari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match1 Mar 2027
Najran sink to position 14
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Najran boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Najran know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Amang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Saleh Al-Rahmani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Najran will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market1 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mohammed Tahiri’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Najran's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Najran has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at Najran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad1 Feb 2027
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match1 Feb 2027
Najran sink to position 14
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Najran until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market1 Feb 2027
Najran get their man
The chase for Abdulquddus Atiah ended with $1.2M changing hands and Al-Taawoun out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Michel Babatunde has come up in conversations Najran were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
10 matches without a win for Najran
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Najran are no longer polite ones.
Match4 Jan 2027
Najran are in real trouble now
Position 13, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
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
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.
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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Al-Diriyah is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Najran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Najran
Samuel Adegbenro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nowhere to hide for Najran
0‑6 against Al-Khaleej, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match7 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Najran
Position 13 and 7 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.
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Najran
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Najran
Adama Niane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Najran and Al-Khaleej in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Thomas Amang 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
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Najran's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Najran has to find a result from somewhere.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Najran
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Nov 2026
Al-Taawoun left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adama Niane, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Omar Al-Ruwaili has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Najran will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match5 Oct 2026
Najran sink to position 14
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Amang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Faisal Al-Essa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match3 Oct 2026
It needed Mohammed Tahiri to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Faisaly, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.