Marked for Muhammad Makbashi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Ahmed Al-Shehri has until the next board meeting
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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Al-Wehda board call everybody in
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.
Market3 Jul 2028
Al-Orobah come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Wehda did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Jul 2028
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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Mahamadou Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Jul 2028
Damac pay $110.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Augustine Oladapo 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jul 2028
The paperwork is done: Muhammad Makbashi joins from Al-Wehda in a deal worth $110.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Damac
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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
An offer of $61.0K for Ali Al-Amri
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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
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.
Market3 Jul 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Jul 2028
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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
5 new boys at the Damac academy
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.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
The captaincy has been taken off Abdelkader Bedrane. Damac will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
Al-Njoom come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Damac did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Yahya Naji 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 Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Al-Riyadh wanted more than $14.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Too much change too quickly at Damac
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.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nawaf Al-Otaibi, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
A promise honoured at Damac
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Salman Al-Nemer falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The mood at Al-Wehda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Wehda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market19 Jun 2028
“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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Al-Ettifaq wanted more than $470.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
$94.0K on the table at Al-Jeel. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market19 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Abdulelah Al-Jaafari again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Jeel. Al-Wehda are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Wehda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Augustine Oladapo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$11.0K settles it between the clubs for Abdullah Otayf
Al-Ahli have accepted the money. What Al-Wehda do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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-Wehda can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$300.0K on the table at Al-Ettifaq. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market12 Jun 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saad Al-Salem is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Jun 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ibrahim Al-Dosari has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Jun 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Omar Al-Dawsari 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Adel Khadhari 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 dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Ammar Al-Najjar
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 May 2028
The mood at Al-Wehda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Al-Wehda boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market22 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Wehda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Al-Wehda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Augustine Oladapo 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.
Squad22 May 2028
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-Wehda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 May 2028
Ali Al-Salem 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 Ali Al-Salem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 May 2028
Abdulaziz Makin is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Wehda has been clear about where Abdulaziz Makin stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout22 May 2028
Nobody at Al-Wehda 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.
Market22 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Wehda, another week without a signature from Abdulaziz Masnom.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2028
Al-Wehda are in real trouble now
Position 13, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Ahmed Al-Shehri has until the next board meeting
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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The Al-Wehda board call everybody in
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.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Farouk Chafaï and Al-Wehda agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Mahamadou Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Augustine Oladapo 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 dugout8 May 2028
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Saeed Al-Muwallad is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammad Makbashi, and the manager let it.
Market8 May 2028
The name of Peter Olayinka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Wehda say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Al-Wehda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Wehda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Wehda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Mahamadou Doumbia 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Owaishir, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Augustine Oladapo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Mar 2028
Anger at Al-Wehda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Pressure builds in the Al-Wehda boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
Market27 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Wehda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Nobody at Al-Wehda 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Wehda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Al-Wehda
Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Al-Wehda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Augustine Oladapo 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.
Loan watch20 Mar 2028
28 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“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 dugout20 Mar 2028
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.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darwin González signs something — a contract at Al-Wehda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Demba Diallo called up by his country
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Al-Wehda that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Wehda. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2028
Al-Wehda sink to position 13
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Wehda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Abdullah Al-Owaishir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Augustine Oladapo 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
A promise honoured at Al-Wehda
Something was said to Meshari Sunyur and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market13 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Meshari Sunyur 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 Meshari Sunyur trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“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.
Market13 Mar 2028
The name of Peter Olayinka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Wehda say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Feb 2028
Supporters organise against the Al-Wehda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the Al-Wehda boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match28 Feb 2028
Al-Wehda finish in position 13
20 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad28 Feb 2028
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Wehda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match26 Feb 2028
4 matches without a win for Al-Wehda
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Wehda are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Feb 2028
4 matches without a goal for Al-Wehda
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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Feb 2028
Al-Wehda sink to position 12
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market14 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ohod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Wehda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Feb 2028
The deal that would have taken Abdulaziz Makin to Al-Ettifaq has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Wehda with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ohod have kept their man, and Al-Wehda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Feb 2028
0‑1 to Al-Ahli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Al-Wehda
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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Maqadi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Anger at Al-Wehda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Wehda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muhammad Makbashi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Wehda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
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.
Match29 Jan 2028
A 2‑1 win over Al-Shabab, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Owaishir, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jan 2028
Every point is an argument now for Al-Wehda
Position 12 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market17 Jan 2028
Al-Wehda say no — this time
The offer from Al-Ittihad for Peter Olayinka 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ohod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Wehda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Wadhah Malik 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-Wehda can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The deal with Al-Riyadh 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Sultan Al-Harbi has left for Al-Ta'ee in a $370.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Supporters organise against the Al-Wehda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match4 Dec 2027
3‑0, and Mahamadou Doumbia took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Wehda tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A brace, and Mahamadou Doumbia takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahamadou Doumbia provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Wehda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Wehda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Wehda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Wehda, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Farouk Chafaï
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Wehda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 15 in, 15 out at Al-Wehda
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Mahamadou Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Augustine Oladapo 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dino Halilović, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Too much change too quickly at Al-Wehda
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Wehda has been clear about where Muhammad Makbashi stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by Al-Nassr, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Wehda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Wehda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Augustine Oladapo 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Al-Wehda 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmed Al-Shehri after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Adel Khadhari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
A test against the best for Al-Wehda
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Al-Ahli.