“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Batin have done the hard part with Ohod, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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 Miras Dilmūrat, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
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 Turki Al-Otaibi to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Al-Batin 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Salem Al-Saleem was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
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.
Marked 7.29 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Turki Al-Otaibi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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 Niño Schepers, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miras Dilmūrat 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 season average of 7.25 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout25 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 Turki Al-Otaibi left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Mohammed Suhluli is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sattam Al-Ruqi provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
19 goals and a season average of 7.58. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Waleed Al-Shehri, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.36
A mark of 8.36 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al-Batin and Al-Hazem, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miras Dilmūrat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Saudi Al-Watani will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Batin were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammed Suhluli provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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 Miras Dilmūrat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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 in one match, Waleed Al-Shehri on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Batin and Al-Mojzel.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
6 goals in one match, Sattam Al-Ruqi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Batin and Al-Ettifaq.
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 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.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
A brace, and Yousef Fawaz takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yousef Fawaz provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Al-Ettifaq next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omar Abdullah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Al-Batin asked and Najran said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niño Schepers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yousef Fawaz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Everything agreed with Al-Qadisiyah, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Sattam Al-Ruqi 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fateh have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Niño Schepers 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.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Batin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Al-Batin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Najran, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Jeel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niño Schepers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Batin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niño Schepers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Squad27 May 2030
Omar Abdullah 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Al-Batin were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khaled Al-Khathlan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Batin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al-Batin had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Khaled Al-Khathlan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Niño Schepers 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.
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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad20 May 2030
5 new faces, and Al-Batin 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khaled Al-Khathlan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Shakhter had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ordabasy, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shakhter have done the hard part with Ordabasy, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhter they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fenerbahce have kept their man, and Shakhter go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ädilkhan Taňzharyqov 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 Bohdan Savkiv was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 42. 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ordabasy keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shakhter is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shakhter have done the hard part with AGMK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shakhter have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shakhter 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: Arman Nusip. 1‑0 against Atyrau, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Savkiv was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kairat Suyumbayev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Miras Dilmūrat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shakhter the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Igor' Shatskii 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 Bohdan Savkiv was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shakhter will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Miras Dilmūrat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shakhter the goodbyes have quietly begun.