Marked for Grigory Loskov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Mar 2029
The mood at Al-Fayha has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.06, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match17 Mar 2029
The drought breaks for Al-Fayha
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Al-Batin were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Grigory Loskov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Fayha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Abdulhadi Al-Harajin 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Al-Fayha
Abdulraouf Al-Duqayl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Mar 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Abdulaziz Al-Shahrani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Fayha.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“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 Mar 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2028
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Abdulhadi Al-Harajin 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Fayha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malek Al-Abadalmanam 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“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-Fayha are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Osama Al-Turki knocks on the manager's door
“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-Fayha, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Al-Fayha
Turki Al-Shaifan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Abdulhadi Al-Harajin 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Bassam Hazazi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frédérick Ntsama, and the manager let it.
Market16 Oct 2028
Al-Fayha have made Hassan Al-Harbi available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad16 Oct 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Fayha has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Al-Fayha
Chris Smalling and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A move Grigory Loskov would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Grigory Loskov is living that version at Al-Fayha, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Al-Fayha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulhadi Al-Harajin 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.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Al-Fayha cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Wages swallow 124% of the Al-Fayha income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Al-Fayha are $15.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Al-Fayha are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
Wael Kadan told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Wael Kadan has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Fayha.