Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Uche Onyemaechi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ismaily the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Léo Baptistão 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 at Ismaily 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samir Mohamed signs something — a contract at Ismaily or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Ghazal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2032
Léo Baptistão 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 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 The request is on a desk at Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ali Ghazal 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 Léo Baptistão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Hassan Ali is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samir Mohamed signs something — a contract at Ismaily or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ali Ghazal 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 Léo Baptistão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
0‑3 to El Masry, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ali Ghazal 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Léo Baptistão 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Baptistão 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Abdallah El Nenny is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ismaily can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily 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 Éric Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.14. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ismaily told Samir Mohamed something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Ricardo García left the room before anybody could ask which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Ghazal 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Léo Baptistão 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Éric Traoré. 2‑0 against Police Union, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
Samir Mohamed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.76. 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Police Union were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ismaily have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Ali Ghazal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Baptistão 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.
Ismaily asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ali Ghazal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Léo Baptistão falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Ismaily go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ismaily have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Ali Ghazal 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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Baptistão 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ricardo García after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Military Production? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Mohamed Magdy’s negotiating for him
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ismaily can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Khaled Al-Nabris provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ali Ghazal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Éric Traoré 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Khaled Al-Nabris. 2‑1 against Wadi Degla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdallah El Nenny 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.
Ali Ghazal 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ismaily and Zamalek in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Léo Baptistão 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
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 2‑5 defeat, delivered by Ricardo García to a room that had heard them before.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éric Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
El Masry made Ismaily work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Samir Mohamed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Ali Ghazal 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 Léo Baptistão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Khaled Al-Nabris has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ismaily have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Ismaily 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 dugout3 Nov 2031
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.” Ricardo García chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Police Union will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ismaily were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
Léo Baptistão 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.
8 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ismaily can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Léo Baptistão 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Éric Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Moussa Bagayoko has his answer from Ismaily; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 dugout22 Sep 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ricardo García left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ismaily people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Petrojet had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zamalek; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Ismaily 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Léo Baptistão 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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Ismaily go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Petrojet waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ramadan El Hadary is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Ismaily go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutSamir Mohamed asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ismaily people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ismaily 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.” Ismaily have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Éric Traoré 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.
Ismaily offered $22.0K; Zamalek said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ismaily asked and Wadi Degla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Konta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Kevin Benítez is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ismaily know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Mujeeb Odifeso has written the date down.
44 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
SquadHassan Ali is training like a man with a point to make
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Ismaily
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mahmoud El Hadary has agreed terms with Smouha for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Amr Fathy has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ismaily have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ismaily lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ismaily have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Éric Traoré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Ghazal 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.
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.
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 Kevin Benítez is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Ghazal 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.
Nobody at Ismaily 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Sánchez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Éric Traoré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Ali Ghazal 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Ismaily 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.
Something was said to Mohamed Refat and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Éric Traoré 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Khaled Al-Nabris. 2‑0 against Masr El Makasa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ismaily pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 dugout17 Feb 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ricardo García kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Hassan Ali scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Abdulrahman Muniru 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Samir Mohamed on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ismaily and ENPPI.
Ismaily asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ismaily is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samir Mohamed. 1‑0 against Smouha, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ricardo García on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ismaily, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Ismaily training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Maker 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.
In brief
The dugoutMarwan Hamdy has become a man the manager trusts
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ismaily scored in the 109th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Ghazal 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Sayed Gharib will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ismaily the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ali Ghazal 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mido Gaber, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Ricardo García left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Samir Mohamed and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Éric Traoré 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 Ali Ghazal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
5 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ismaily, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ricardo García after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ismaily can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Ghazal 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.
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.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and the manager clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
A brace, and Samir Mohamed takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samir Mohamed provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Ismaily, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ismaily they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Ahly will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ahly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smouha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Polokwane City for Thapelo Maseko was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Ahly can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Ahly heard it as anything else.
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Words at Al Ahly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zizo 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 Marek Rodák is on it.