The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 24 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdullah Bin Subayt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Faisaly the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Al-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volos NPS have kept their man, and Al-Faisaly go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mohamed Absi 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.
“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 dugout19 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Saeed Al-Subaie to a room that had heard them before.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Faisaly pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 Hadi Baghban is on it.
That is the business done at Al-Faisaly 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.
Andrei Girotto 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 Feb 2029
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Faisaly pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 Fernando Pacheco is on it.
A brace, and Hadi Baghban takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hadi Baghban provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdullah Bin Subayt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Faisaly the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Abdullah Bin Subayt 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.
Al-Fateh will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Arif Al-Haydar has pre-agreed a move to Al-Faisaly, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Al-Faisaly go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hadi Baghban. 2‑0 against Al-Hazem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Faisaly have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Al-Ta'ee were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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-Faisaly 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 Abdoulaye Seck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Hadi Baghban 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.
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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.
Theo Bongonda 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Faisaly are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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.
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 Ibrahima N'Diaye is on it.
Al-Hilal next, and one man in the Al-Faisaly dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Nawaf Al-Bishri has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Faisaly know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Seck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout2 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Saeed Al-Subaie to a room that had heard them before.
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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.
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Saeed Al-Subaie was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al-Faisaly dressing room was either.
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 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.
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.
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdullah Bin Subayt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A season-long audition: Zob Ahan still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Al-Faisaly's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Al-Faisaly have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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.
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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.
Mohamed Absi 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.
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Faisaly have done the hard part with Olimpia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Wilfried Eza 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Nacional have kept their man, and Al-Faisaly go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Wilfried Eza a promise
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Faisaly have done the hard part with Bayelsa United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Seck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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-Faisaly know it.
Munther Al-Nakhli 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.
Al-Faisaly have made the call to Atletico Nacional. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Theo Bongonda 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 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.
Al-Faisaly asked and Al-Ahli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Faisaly will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutYaseen Barnawi has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Faisaly will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Wilfried Eza 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 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.
Al-Faisaly have made the call to Al-Riyadh. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Faisaly will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Faisaly they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Something was said to Jaber Issa and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Yaseen Barnawi is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Faisaly will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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.
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 Romell Quioto is on it.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Faisaly could ask drops and the wages Mohammed Al-Shanqiti can ask rise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Faisal Al-Abdulwahed was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malick Touré 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 combined actions and 6.86. 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.
11 goals in 30 games at Al-Jeel — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Najran updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Najran are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Diego Venancio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olivier N'Zi 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Abdulraouf Al-Duqayl has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Najran have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A 1‑0 win over Al-Saudi Al-Watani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
10 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-Faisaly, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Munther Al-Nakhli ended with $300.0K changing hands and Al-Ra'ed out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Seck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Al-Taawoun scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
45 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Najran people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Al-Faisaly, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Diego Venancio 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.
Al-Fateh paid $390.0K and Najran took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Faisaly lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Faisaly is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Theo Bongonda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Saeed Al-Subaie after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutWilfried Eza asks for a word with the manager
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Theo Bongonda 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Faisaly can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Saeed Al-Subaie, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Al-Faisaly have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Wilfried Eza
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoulaye Seck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Faisaly has been clear about where Yaseen Barnawi stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Fernando Pacheco is on it.
The phone has started ringing about Abdullah Al-Rashidi again, and this time the name on the line is Ohod. Al-Faisaly are listening politely and promising nothing.
Theo Bongonda 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Seck 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.
Al-Faisaly asked and Al-Fayha said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al-Faisaly are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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-Faisaly 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 Abdullah Al-Mogren was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadJaime Seoane is the talk of the training ground
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Qassem Lajami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Al-Diriyah game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ra'ed runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Darwin Núñez is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gaëtan Laborde signs something — a contract at Al-Diriyah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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-Diriyah will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.