Marked for Dimas
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Mar 2032
First, on 59 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad29 Mar 2032
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Al Ahli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza Sakhi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
The manager makes an example of Alejo Fernández
“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 dugout29 Mar 2032
When it matters, Ali Saleh plays
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.
Market29 Mar 2032
The Chris Bedia story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chris Bedia signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sultan Abdulrahman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Mar 2032
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al Ahli could get for him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2032
The knee: Leandrinho out for 69 days
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Emirates Club lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Emirates Club is running low.
Squad29 Mar 2032
60 days out for Mohammad Fuad after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Emirates Club will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Oumar Traoré 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 dugout29 Mar 2032
The manager makes Rashid Nader a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Emirates Club. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market29 Mar 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rashid Hussain’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad7 Apr 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leandrinho commits to Emirates Club for another 2 years.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Diogo Capitão 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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Emirates Club now.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Saud Al-Hosani 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.
Market7 Apr 2031
Dimas told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Dimas has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Emirates Club.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Emirates Club than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Squad7 Apr 2031
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Emirates Club says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
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 Mohammad Fuad has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2030
0‑6 against Al Dhafra, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match12 Oct 2030
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 dugout14 Oct 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Emirates Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Oumar 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.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Oct 2030
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Emirates Club and Al Dhafra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saud Al-Hosani, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Beaten 6 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Boardroom14 Oct 2030
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.