Kai Crampton

Goalkeeper - Free Agent
15 Jun 2031
Sunday
Process

Marked for Kai Crampton

252 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

26 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Ofri Arad damages knee ligaments — 27 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.

Boardroom

FCSB book their European place

Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.

Squad

The season belongs to Denis Drăguş

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and FCSB have had the benefit of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Squad

Marius Marin out for 58 days

The medical room confirms 58 days on the sidelines for Marius Marin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

When it matters, Dylan Batubinsika plays

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.

The dugout

Mihai Toma 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.

The dugout

The manager makes Adrian Rus a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FCSB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

Back issues
250 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

12 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Ofri Arad out for 41 days

41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Boardroom

88% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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 dugout

When it matters, David Miculescu plays

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.

Market

The Meriton Korenica talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Kai Crampton knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kai Crampton trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Still no signature from Kai Crampton

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what FCSB could get for him.

Squad

Kai Crampton wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and FCSB have no good answer.

In brief

  • Market Talks stall between FCSB and Rio Parmar
  • Market The shop window has Adrian Rus in it
  • Boardroom The FCSB production line keeps running
248 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

28 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ofri Arad

55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

Kai Crampton gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

When it matters, Dylan Batubinsika plays

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.

In brief

246 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Samuel Teles

143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Owen Bevan hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Squad

Ilja Ishkov wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCSB can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Mihai Toma gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, David Miculescu plays

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.

Market

The Meriton Korenica talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Narcis Ilaş knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Narcis Ilaş trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

245 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

7 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Samuel Teles damages knee ligaments — 150 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 150 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.

Market

Rareş Gal hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Siyabonga Ngezana is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Adrian Rus signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adrian Rus commits to FCSB for another 2 years.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Market

Mihai Toma told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mihai Toma has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FCSB.

Market

The clock runs on Kai Crampton's contract

2 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

The dugout

When it matters, Octavian Popescu plays

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.

In brief

244 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

31 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Samuel Teles out for 157 days

157 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCSB can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kai Crampton

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kai Crampton, and the manager let it.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Dylan Batubinsika has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

The dugout

Adrian Rus has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Adrian Rus has written the date down.

Market

FCSB put Sergiu Chiriches up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sergiu Chiriches may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

243 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

24 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Lukáš Zima gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Darius Olaru talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Josef Kolářík has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

The dugout

Kai Crampton 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.

In brief

242 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Terms done: Mario David is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FH waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Owen Bevan asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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 dugout

No hiding place for Adrian Rus

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrian Rus, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Lukáš Zima 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.

The dugout

David Miculescu has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

Market

The Meriton Korenica talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

The clock does Kai Crampton’s negotiating for him

2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee FCSB could ask drops and the wages Kai Crampton can ask rise.

In brief

238 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mario David has said yes to Metalist

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

The Universitatea Craiova deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Samuel Teles reports back to FCSB with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

The dugout

Adrian Rus gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, David Miculescu plays

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.

Market

The Meriton Korenica talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

The clock does Kai Crampton’s negotiating for him

3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee FCSB could ask drops and the wages Kai Crampton can ask rise.

The dugout

Romaric Etonde has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Romaric Etonde has written the date down.

In brief

  • Squad Mario David still has not settled
  • The dugout Mihai Toma asks for a word with the manager
  • Boardroom FCSB keep producing them
237 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

10 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Anton Chichkan puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Josef Kolářík’s move to Universitatea Craiova falls through

The deal that would have taken Josef Kolářík to Universitatea Craiova has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to FCSB with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Market

Siyabonga Ngezana is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Mamadou Doumbia will join FCSB for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mamadou Doumbia has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means FCSB have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Market

Metalist join the queue for Mario David

Add another name to the list: Metalist have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mario David. The answer from FCSB has not changed — yet.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Josef Kolářík

“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.

Squad

Kai Crampton: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one FCSB will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

In brief

236 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Josef Kolářík has said yes to Universitatea Craiova

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

The dugout

Baba Alhassan says FCSB went back on their word

“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.

Market

So close: Kai Crampton’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Universitatea Craiova moved on, Kai Crampton reports back to FCSB, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Market

Dylan Batubinsika asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 4 in, 3 out at FCSB

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Áron Yaakobishvili

FCSB asked and Universitatea Craiova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Moussa Wagué signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Moussa Wagué and FCSB agree another 2 years.

In brief

235 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

27 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Simon Elisor has said yes to Viitorul

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

The dugout

Lukáš Zima: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Eddy Gnahoré asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Squad

Ofri Arad out for 18 days

The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Ofri Arad, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“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 FCSB know it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kai Crampton

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kai Crampton, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Wages eat 92% of everything FCSB earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

In brief

234 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

20 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Ionut Mitrita will not be coming to FCSB

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at FCSB is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Koby Mottoh asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Squad

Oleksandr Romanchuk in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Market

Mihai Chiriches steps up from the FCSB academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mihai Chiriches 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.

Market

FCSB promote George Moldovan from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. George Moldovan 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.

Market

One of our own: Sergiu Burca joins the FCSB first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergiu Burca is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Transfer targets

FCSB try to borrow Michał Matys

Legia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

When it matters, David Miculescu plays

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.

In brief

232 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Astra come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Denis Drăguş is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. FCSB will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Market

Anton Chichkan puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Cosmin Dragusin

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FCSB have done the hard part with Universitatea Craiova, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Oleksandr Romanchuk 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for David Miculescu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Miculescu, and the manager let it.

Transfer targets

FCSB try to borrow Anestis Mythou

PAOK have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

231 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Kai Crampton keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

FCSB lose Ofri Arad

46 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

129% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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 dugout

No hiding place for Alex Sola

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Sola, and the manager let it.

The dugout

David Miculescu knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Josef Kolářík gets picked when it counts

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 Josef Kolářík is on it.

Market

The Ofri Arad question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ofri Arad’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

230 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Adrian Rus

“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 dugout

David Miculescu gets picked when it counts

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 David Miculescu is on it.

Market

The Darius Olaru question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Darius Olaru’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Kai Crampton knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

229 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Owen Bevan puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

The dugout

Kai Crampton knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kai Crampton trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

When it matters, Dylan Batubinsika plays

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.

The dugout

The manager makes Adrian Rus a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FCSB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

The David Miculescu question follows FCSB around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Miculescu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Anton Chichkan has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at FCSB that is a harder question to answer.

Market

The clock does Josef Kolářík’s negotiating for him

5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee FCSB could ask drops and the wages Josef Kolářík can ask rise.

In brief

228 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Lukáš Zima stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Lukáš Zima and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Lukáš Zima

“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.

Market

The Meriton Korenica story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Meriton Korenica signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Octavian Popescu has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

Match

FCSB have something to play for

Position 4 on 27 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

The dugout

Simon Elisor knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simon Elisor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Kai Crampton wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and FCSB have no good answer.

In brief

224 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

David Miculescu was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

FCSB come up short against Pandurii

Pandurii left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Looking ahead

The neighbours are next for FCSB

Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Dinamo Bucharest on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.

The dugout

No hiding place for Adrian Rus

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrian Rus, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Inquest at FCSB

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at FCSB

6 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.

In brief

221 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for FCSB

6 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.

Market

Owen Bevan puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Kai Crampton keeps FCSB in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

The goals have deserted FCSB

6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at FCSB can tell you which week it ends in.

The dugout

Alex Sola: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Eddy Gnahoré

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. FCSB will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

The dugout

No hiding place for Lukáš Zima

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lukáš Zima, and the manager let it.

In brief

219 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 59. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Dylan Batubinsika damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for FCSB

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around FCSB are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Ofri Arad signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ofri Arad and FCSB agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

4 matches without a goal for FCSB

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

FCSB come up short against CFR Cluj

CFR Cluj left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Boardroom

132% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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.

In brief

216 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The longest week starts now for FCSB

Beaten 0‑1 by Dinamo Bucharest in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Dylan Batubinsika

40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Josef Kolářík was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Halfway: FCSB sit in position 3

18 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at FCSB

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.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

FCSB pick somebody else ahead of Narcis Ilaş

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.

In brief

203 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Cosmin Deac out for 34 days

34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Seydou Sy agrees terms with Botosani

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Transfer targets

FCSB bid $1.0M for Henry Cartwright

The offer went to Universitatea Craiova this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Boardroom

Dragos Dragusin has agreed to leave FCSB for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Denis Drăguş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Daniel Graovac is a FCSB player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Squad

Kai Crampton is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

The dugout

news_h_reunited_with_his_manager

news_b_reunited_with_his_manager

In brief

202 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ivan Sergeev agrees terms with CFR Cluj

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Not going: Simon Elisor stays at FCSB

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Astra had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Simon Elisor hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Frankie Phillips rejects the move

FCSB had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Doncaster Rovers, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Marius Marin pulls a muscle — 14 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Kolářík 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.

Squad

4 FCSB players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

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.

In brief

201 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

FCSB spell it out for Ianis Bancu

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ianis Bancu has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Market

Ivan Sergeev hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Thomas Cordier has agreed to leave FCSB for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 90% of the FCSB income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

Transfer targets

FCSB ask about Frankie Phillips

A loan enquiry to Doncaster Rovers: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

When it matters, Meriton Korenica plays

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.

Squad

Kai Crampton is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kai Crampton has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.

In brief

199 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky damages knee ligaments — 16 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.

Market

Abdullah Al Naqbi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Wahda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Lucas Pimenta 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Wahda

Mohammed Al-Shamsi 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Bernardo Folha plays

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.

The dugout

Kai Crampton has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kai Crampton has written the date down.

In brief

197 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

FCSB put Ianis Bancu 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.

Squad

Lukáš Zima stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Lukáš Zima and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 47 matches say the rest.

Boardroom

87% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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 dugout

Meriton Korenica has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ilja Ishkov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Ishkov, and the manager let it.

Squad

A promotion for Narcis Ilaş

Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Narcis Ilaş has moved up it.

In brief

196 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Facundo Kruspzky out for 41 days

41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Wahda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Al Wahda

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al Wahda is running low.

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Al Wahda training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Pimenta 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 18 days out for Tarik Aoutah

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Al Wahda will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Isaac Tshibangu

“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 dugout

Renné Rivas has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Al Wahda 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.

Boardroom

The numbers do not look good at Al Wahda

Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.

Market

Facundo Kruspzky linked with a move away

The name of Facundo Kruspzky keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Wahda say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

195 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Only the photograph left for Abdullah Al Naqbi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdullah Al Naqbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Wahda the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Wahda

Facundo Kruspzky 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Wahda

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Pimenta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Bernardo Folha plays

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.

The dugout

Kai Crampton knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kai Crampton trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Kai Crampton finally belongs at Al Wahda

The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.

In brief

194 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Only the photograph left for Abdullah Khamis

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdullah Khamis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Wahda the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Wahda

Mohammed Al-Shamsi 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.

The dugout

Alaeddine Zouhir gets picked when it counts

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 Alaeddine Zouhir is on it.

The dugout

Kai Crampton 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.

The dugout

Reza Ghandipour has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Reza Ghandipour has written the date down.

Squad

Reza Ghandipour has settled at Al Wahda

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

Market

Faisal Al Bloushi linked with a move away

The name of Faisal Al Bloushi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Wahda say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Facundo Kruspzky

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Facundo Kruspzky has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

193 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Al Wahda spell it out for Faisal Juma

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Faisal Juma has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

The dugout

Abdelrahman Saleh says Al Wahda went back on their word

“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.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Wahda

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Kruspzky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Salem Juma signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Salem Juma commits to Al Wahda for another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Wahda

Waled Husain Abdulla 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.

The dugout

Reza Ghandipour has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Al Wahda 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.

The dugout

Kai Crampton loses the manager who believed in him

A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Kai Crampton's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.

Market

The Lucas Pimenta talk will not go away

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.

Squad

Salem Juma still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al Wahda would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

In brief

  • The dugout Salem Juma asks for a word with the manager
  • Boardroom Al Wahda answer back
  • Boardroom The Al Wahda academy earns its keep
193 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Matija Malekinušić damages knee ligaments — 32 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.

Boardroom

FCSB spell it out for Ianis Bancu

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ianis Bancu has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Radunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 43 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

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 Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Josef Kolářík without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Josef Kolářík was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

Squad

Alexandru Pantea remains an outsider

A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at FCSB would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

Market

FCSB and Samuel Teles are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

192 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Al Wahda boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words at Al Wahda training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Pimenta 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.

Squad

Mohammed Al-Shamsi in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Lautaro Montenegro

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Montenegro, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Renné Rivas gets picked when it counts

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 Renné Rivas is on it.

Boardroom

Belts tighten at Al Wahda

The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.

The dugout

Kai Crampton without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Kai Crampton was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

Market

Facundo Kruspzky linked with a move away

The name of Facundo Kruspzky keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Wahda say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Kai Crampton remains an outsider

A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al Wahda would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

189 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Kai Crampton keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Wahda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Wahda

Facundo Kruspzky and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Lucas Pimenta 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 dugout

Reza Ghandipour gets picked when it counts

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 Reza Ghandipour is on it.

The dugout

Isaac Tshibangu 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.

Market

The Lucas Pimenta talk will not go away

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.

Squad

Questions about Bernardo Folha on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

Boardroom

The Al Wahda production line keeps running

47 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

The dugout

Facundo Kruspzky keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Facundo Kruspzky plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

In brief

189 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 39 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

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 Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Octavian Popescu 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.

Market

The David Miculescu story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Miculescu signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

A door opens for Seydou Sy

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Market

The shop window has Zayon Chtaï-Telamio in it

FCSB have let the market know Zayon Chtaï-Telamio can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

Boardroom

The FCSB production line keeps running

37 graduates out of an academy now rated 11 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

186 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

8 saves: Mohammed Al-Shamsi was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

No end in sight to Al Wahda's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Wahda has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Abdalla Ramadan pops up at the right end — 7.77

7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Isaac Tshibangu

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Abdullah Khamis has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Wahda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Wahda

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Pimenta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Mahmoud Al Naqbi out for 37 days

The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Mahmoud Al Naqbi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Waled Husain Abdulla in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The form table has caught Kai Crampton

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

185 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Mohammed Al-Shamsi

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.

Match

No end in sight to Al Wahda's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Wahda has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Ismail Nader: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Wahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words at Al Wahda training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Kruspzky 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.

Match

Reza Ghandipour’s goal not enough for Al Wahda

Reza Ghandipour scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Al Shabab, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Reza Ghandipour is carrying Al Wahda

13 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Abdalla Ramadan in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kai Crampton

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kai Crampton, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Reza Ghandipour at his very best

Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Wahda.

In brief

185 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Pavlo Isenko will not be coming to FCSB

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at FCSB is enjoying the guessing.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Vissel Kobe for Ivan Sergeev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

So close: Seydou Sy’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. CFR Cluj moved on, Seydou Sy reports back to FCSB, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell FCSB: Ante Matej Jurić is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 35 matches say the rest.

Boardroom

85% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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 dugout

Meriton Korenica has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

In brief

184 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Abdullah Al Naqbi has said yes to Baniyas

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Wahda have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

A career in one shirt: Mohammed Al-Shamsi

14 seasons and 195 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky makes the wrong kind of headline

Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Al Wahda 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.

Match

No end in sight to Al Wahda's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Wahda has to find a result from somewhere.

Boardroom

Abdullah Khamis signs for Al Wasl while still at Al Wahda

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Abdullah Khamis has agreed terms with Al Wasl for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Abdelrahman Saleh stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdelrahman Saleh and Al Wahda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Lucas Pimenta 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.

Player ratings

Reza Ghandipour was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

183 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Waled Husain Abdulla puts it in writing

“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 Al Wahda, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Wahda

Renné Rivas 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.

Squad

Lucas Pimenta 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.

Match

Al Wahda come up short against Sharjah

Sharjah left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

One of those days for Facundo Kruspzky

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mohammed Al-Shamsi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Al-Shamsi, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Faisal Juma left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

The form table has caught Kai Crampton

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

The dugout

When it matters, Bernardo Folha plays

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.

In brief

181 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Tarik Aoutah: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Wahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Isaac Tshibangu was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky 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.

Squad

Mohammed Al-Shamsi in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Al Wahda come up short against Al Dhafra

Al Dhafra left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Boardroom

Inquest at Al Wahda

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

Faisal Juma answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Kai Crampton dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

Alaeddine Zouhir has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Al Wahda 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.

In brief

181 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ivan Sergeev agrees terms with CFR Cluj

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Seydou Sy says no to Pandurii

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Seydou Sy had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Transfer targets

Pavlo Isenko turns down FCSB

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Universitatea Craiova keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell FCSB: Ante Matej Jurić is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

David Miculescu 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.

Squad

Moussa Wagué wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FCSB can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Boardroom

96% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 31 matches say the rest.

In brief

180 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Al Wahda

Al Fujairah will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al Wahda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Abdullah Al Naqbi, 18, steals the show — 9.04

Marked 9.04 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Isaac Tshibangu runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Wahda

Facundo Kruspzky and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Abdalla Ramadan stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdalla Ramadan and Al Wahda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Lucas Pimenta 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Reza Ghandipour at his very best

Marked 9.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Wahda.

Match

Abdullah Al Naqbi at the heart of a fast Al Wahda start

2 goals inside twenty minutes with Abdullah Al Naqbi in the middle of it, and Al Fujairah unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Facundo Kruspzky

Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

177 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Simon Elisor says FCSB went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meriton Korenica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 112% of the FCSB income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton wants to come home

“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 27 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Meriton Korenica gets picked when it counts

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 Meriton Korenica is on it.

The dugout

Sergiu Chiriches knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergiu Chiriches trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Darius Olaru talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FCSB know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

The manager makes Moussa Wagué a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FCSB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

172 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Kai Crampton keeps Al Wahda in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

The dugout

Tarik Aoutah says Al Wahda went back on their word

“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.

Match

The wait goes on for Al Wahda

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Wahda

Renné Rivas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Al Wahda training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Kruspzky 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Al Wahda

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al Wahda can tell you which week it ends in.

The terraces

One of their own: Kai Crampton

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Match

Al Shabab take the points off Al Wahda

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Amer Nader signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amer Nader commits to Al Wahda for another 4 years.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Player ratings Nobody could get near Isaac Tshibangu
  • The dugout Isaac Tshibangu has become a man the manager trusts
170 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Kai Crampton stands alone

10 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.

Market

Mahmoud Omar hands in a written request

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Facundo Kruspzky

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Wahda

Abdalla Ramadan 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.

Match

Sharjah take the points off Al Wahda

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Ahmed Saeed stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Saeed and Al Wahda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

No hiding place for Abdelrahman Saleh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdelrahman Saleh, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Faisal Juma: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

169 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Nowhere to hide for FCSB

0‑3 against Universitatea Craiova, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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 ratings

Zoran Mitrov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Boardroom

114% of the income goes out in wages at FCSB

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.

Boardroom

Nobody left the FCSB dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Wahda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Ianis Bancu left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

168 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdullah Khamis

14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Wahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

30 days out for Mohammed Al-Shamsi after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Wahda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

A brace, and Facundo Kruspzky takes the afternoon — 8.35

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Facundo Kruspzky provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

7 saves: Kai Crampton was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

Al Wahda make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al Wahda have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Wahda

Facundo Kruspzky and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Facundo Kruspzky the difference as Al Wahda beat Al Dhafra

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo Kruspzky. 5‑3 against Al Dhafra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match

Facundo Kruspzky among the goals in a wild afternoon

8 goals in one match, Facundo Kruspzky on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al Wahda and Al Dhafra.

The dugout

Hassan Suqrat gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

165 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Abdullah Khamis out for 42 days

42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Wahda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Mohammed Al-Shamsi out for 55 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Wahda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Kai Crampton keeps Al Wahda in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

A bad afternoon for Al Wahda against Al Nasr

1‑3 to Al Nasr, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Renné Rivas in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Abdalla Ramadan at his very best

Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Wahda.

The dugout

Abdelrahman Saleh gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Faisal Juma faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Faisal Juma after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Alaeddine Zouhir gets picked when it counts

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 Alaeddine Zouhir is on it.

In brief

165 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

Meriton Korenica the difference as FCSB beat Astra

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Meriton Korenica. 1‑0 against Astra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 101% of the FCSB income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Meriton Korenica

A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Loan watch

Kai Crampton counts the days

“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Wahda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

A satisfied Ianis Bancu

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ianis Bancu could afford to be generous.

The dugout

When it matters, Darius Olaru plays

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 ratings

Josef Kolářík was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

In brief

163 Edition

The Al Wahda Post

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Kai Crampton stands alone

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.

Squad

Abdullah Khamis damages knee ligaments — 58 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.

Squad

71 days out for Mohammed Al-Shamsi after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Wahda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Abdullah Hassan, 16, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20

A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 16-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The dugout

Amer Nader keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Wahda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Facundo Kruspzky 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 terraces

Al Wahda supporters have found a favourite in Reza Ghandipour

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Reza Ghandipour 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.

Match

Al Wahda keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Match

Al Wahda find a way past Al Ain

Al Ain made Al Wahda work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

161 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

27 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Alexandru Maxim has said yes to Botosani

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Roan Wilson has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Denis Drăguş 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.

Squad

Meriton Korenica 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.

Match

Denis Drăguş sends FCSB past Voluntari

It finished 2‑0, and it was Denis Drăguş’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FCSB.

Squad

Denis Drăguş reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Player ratings

Meriton Korenica in the eights

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 ratings

Denis Drăguş was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

Risto Radunović gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

155 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Joyskim Dawa agrees terms with Voluntari

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around FCSB people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Alexandru Maxim asks to leave FCSB

“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 targets

Pavlo Isenko due for a FCSB medical

Everything agreed with Universitatea Craiova, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

CFR Cluj watching Ivan Sergeev

The interest is real enough to have reached print. FCSB have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Market

Alexandru Maxim is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Real improvement from Narcis Ilaş at FCSB

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Narcis Ilaş is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Denis Drăguş in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.

Squad

Siyabonga Ngezana has improved at 32, 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.

In brief