Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulaziz Al-Alawi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Ta'ee the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 dugout29 Apr 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Salem Al-Toiawy's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Ta'ee. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
21 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Ta'ee, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nawaf Al-Osaimi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Ta'ee the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Al-Nahda is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nawaf Al-Osaimi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The fee is $77.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Damac drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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-Ta'ee this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Muhammad Makbashi has, at Al-Ta'ee, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Damac lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Damac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Damac can pretend not to have heard.
Position 3, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shabab have kept their man, and Damac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Al-Njoom have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hassan Al-Juhani. The answer from Damac has not changed — yet.
Sattam Al-Lehiyani 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Morlaye Sylla 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdullah Badghish 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.
Al-Ta'ee had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Najran, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Al-Ta'ee asked and Al-Taawoun said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Faisal Al-Harbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Khalid Al-Asiri 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Ta'ee can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Ta'ee have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Damac have accepted the money. What Al-Ta'ee do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 25 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Al-Ta'ee had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Damac, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajer have kept their man, and Al-Ta'ee go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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-Ta'ee this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Damac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Ta'ee had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Damac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Damac 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.79 beside his name.
Marked 9.48 — 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Damac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Damac people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Yahya Naji 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morlaye Sylla 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.
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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
9 combined actions and 6.92. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Damac keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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-Ta'ee this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Damac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is going to Al-Shabab, the club has $520.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Damac, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Muhammad Makbashi reports back to Damac with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Abdelkader Bedrane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Morlaye Sylla 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 offer from Al-Ra'ed for Yahya Naji 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Ta'ee waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Damac is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Majed Al-Awad has come up in conversations Damac were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Yahya Naji 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Damac. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Shoulla had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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-Ta'ee, and it is not being withdrawn.
Al-Ta'ee asked and Damac said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ibrahim Al-Nakhli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Al-Ta'ee training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Harbi 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.
9 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.
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 Sanele Sikhosana is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Damac have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Al-Taawoun for Abdullah Al-Qahtani 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Damac can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Morlaye Sylla 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Taawoun have kept their man, and Damac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Damac know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al-Ta'ee had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Damac, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Naser Al-Ghamdi 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 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Al-Ta'ee training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Harbi 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.
“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 Al-Ta'ee will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hassan Al-Amri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Damac can pretend not to have heard.
Sanousi Al-Hawsawi 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.
Damac asked and Al-Orobah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Damac can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Faisal Darisi 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Salem Al-Toiawy had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Ta'ee go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mohammed Al-Shammari has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Ta'ee have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 Al-Ta'ee know it.
8 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Madkhali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Damac, and it is not being withdrawn.
Abdelkader Bedrane 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.
Damac asked and Al-Wehda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Moataz Al-Baqawi has his answer from Damac; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Majed Al-Awad is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Faisal Darisi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Damac can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Morlaye Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Moataz Al-Baqawi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Damac will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yahya Naji signs something — a contract at Damac or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6 on 50 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Damac would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Damac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Damac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Damac is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sanousi Al-Hawsawi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Damac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Damac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Morlaye Sylla signs something — a contract at Damac or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Thamer Al-Shahrani may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Damac. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Bader Fallatah on the training pitch
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Damac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Damac can pretend not to have heard.
Yahya Naji 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Morlaye Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Damac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Damac will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Damac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Yahya Naji 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.
14 clean sheets from 26 appearances at Al-Shoulla. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rashid Al-Khaibari after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hazzaa Al-Ghamdi provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Sanousi Al-Hawsawi 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Damac and Al-Batin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Damac asked and Al-Faisaly said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Wehda can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The chase for Omar Al-Ruwaili ended with $710.0K changing hands and Al-Faisaly out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Al-Wehda asked and Al-Taawoun said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Al-Wehda are still learning each other
Sanousi Al-Hawsawi 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.
Damac have gone to Hajer with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Damac asked and Al-Faisaly said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Turki Al-Madani is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Damac have done the hard part with Al-Wehda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Damac asked and Al-Khaleej said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
7 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.
Something was said to Hamoud Bassam and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.