38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Police Union lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ibrahim Aboul-Yazid 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dean Billiat has, at Police Union, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richmond Lamptey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Police Union lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Beaten 1‑6 by Al Ahly, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Police Union 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Police Union have done the hard part with Haras El Hodoud, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ahmed Nabil Manga 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Police Union and Al Ahly in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Mohamed Raafat has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
$84.0K was the most the club would pay and Masr El Makasa were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Police Union 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.” Police Union have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The captaincy has been taken off Ibrahim Aboul-Yazid. Police Union will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 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 Police Union this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fathy El Shenawy signs something — a contract at Police Union or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Police Union. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 5 on 57 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Richmond Lamptey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Wasiu Falolu 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Police Union, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Thamsanqa Hlatshwayo has his answer from Police Union; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richmond Lamptey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Police Union told Mahmoud Wahid something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Benjamin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fathy El Shenawy signs something — a contract at Police Union 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.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Police Union
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Wahid was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout26 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Trezeguet El Shenawy to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to David Benjamin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wasiu Falolu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout19 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Trezeguet El Shenawy chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Police Union, and both men came out saying it was fine.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Fathy El Shenawy reports back to Police Union with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fathy El Shenawy 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Police Union training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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. Smouha have kept their man, and Police Union go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 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 Police Union 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 Wasiu Falolu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Trezeguet El Shenawy after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Police Union lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mohamed Niaré 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Police Union training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Benjamin. 1‑0 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Police Union this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Wasiu Falolu. 2‑1 against Wadi Degla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Police Union told David Benjamin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Mohamed Niaré
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ahmed Nabil Manga is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Police Union this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Police Union, 3‑1 the final word against Al Gaish in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Police Union training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohamed Raafat 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.
13 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Police Union, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Police Union close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Police Union they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 goals in one match, Mohamed Raafat on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Police Union and Al Ahly.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Police Union will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Police Union can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Police Union they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Amr Shaaban has agreed terms with Ismaily for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Police Union this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Police Union will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Atwa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Police Union the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Police Union this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Police Union asked and El Dakhleya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“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 Police Union, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with El Dakhleya 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.
Mohamed Niaré 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 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.
“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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
5 new faces, and Police Union are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Police Union. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Police Union have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
He is 18, and nobody at Police Union signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Nobody at Police Union 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Police Union has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
5 goals in 8 games at JS Kabylie — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Police Union updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Police Union can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Police Union can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mahmoud Wahid and Police Union agree another 2 years.
Mohamed Niaré 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richmond Lamptey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Police Union have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ibrahim Aboul-Yazid 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 Police Union training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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.
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.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Police Union lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ibrahim Aboul-Yazid 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 Mahmoud Wahid was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Police Union 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Tolba Mohamed is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
5 goals in 8 games at JS Kabylie — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Police Union updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Police Union lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Police Union will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Richmond Lamptey 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Police Union training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Wahid 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.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Salah Rico
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
9 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ahmed Marwan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Mohamed Niaré 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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Police Union lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Mahmoud Wahid 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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Police Union lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Police Union 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 Richmond Lamptey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Police Union can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Police Union lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Police Union will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Benjamin and Police Union agree another 4 years.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mahmoud Labib 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Police Union lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Police Union will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Police Union, and it is not being withdrawn.
El Dakhleya have accepted the money. What Police Union do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.84, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Ibrahim Aboul-Yazid 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fathy El Shenawy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Mahmoud Wahid 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Police Union had all but put away. Smouha will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Police Union will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
Fathy El Shenawy 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Police Union training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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.
Minute 88, against Wadi Degla, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
A 1‑1 draw with Wadi Degla leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ahmed Marwan was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Police Union dressing room was either.
Nobody at Police Union is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.