Marked for Simphiwe Masilela
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Jeel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 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-Jeel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 May 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Al-Jeel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al-Shanqiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 May 2028
103% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Jeel
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 dugout15 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Thamer Al-Arjan
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Jeel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Al-Jeel
Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Jeel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al-Shanqiti 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
Haythem Ayouni damages knee ligaments — 129 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Haruna Abubakar decided nobody was going anywhere. Al-Hazem had no time left to answer.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Haythem Ayouni 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Al-Jeel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al-Shanqiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Feb 2028
Al-Hazem made Al-Jeel work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout21 Feb 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Wages eat 129% of everything Al-Jeel 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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Haruna Abubakar at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Jeel.