28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Fayha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The offer from Al-Saudi Al-Watani for Wael Kadan 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Fayha, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Fayha have done the hard part with Al-Mojzel, 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 Al-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Fayha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Fayha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Fayha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chris Smalling 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.
Marked 7.02 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Add another name to the list: Al-Saudi Al-Watani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Wael Kadan. The answer from Al-Fayha has not changed — yet.
Al-Fayha asked and Hajer 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 Abdulhadi Al-Harajin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Fayha know it.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Fayha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Fayha, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al-Fayha had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Wael Kadan 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
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.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $24.9K of what Al-Fayha paid for Luciano Zúñiga is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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-Fayha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Al-Fayha 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Wael Kadan reports back to Al-Fayha with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Fayha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Fayha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chris Smalling 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.
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulhadi Al-Harajin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Fayha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Khaleej, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The name of Turki Al-Shaifan has come up in conversations Al-Fayha were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chris Smalling signs something — a contract at Al-Fayha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
In brief
The terracesThe Chris Smalling rumours reach the terraces
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Khaled Al-Rammah was one of the reasons people came, and $1.2M does not replace that by itself.
The name of Wael Kadan has come up in conversations Al-Fayha were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darien Wauchope was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Fayha have made the call to Al-Khaleej. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Darien Wauchope has his answer from Al-Fayha; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Fayha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Moura 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.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Al-Fayha are no longer polite ones.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Fayha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Chris Smalling 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 Hugo Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
11 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. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Fayha 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. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Chris Smalling and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Hugo Moura 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.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Fayha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Fayha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Hugo Moura 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Al-Fayha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fahad Al-Munaif 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rabie Hawsawi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Fayha needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muntathir Al-Shaqaq trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Fayha, another week without a signature from Michael Micallef.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Fayha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Fayha will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Abdulraouf Al-Duqayl 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Fayha told Abdulraouf Al-Duqayl something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Fayha 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. 113 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 Al-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Al-Fayha now.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Al-Fayha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Moura 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 this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Fayha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 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 Al-Fayha 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 Hugo Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Fayha 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 Al-Fayha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chris Smalling 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-Wehda paid $810.0K and Al-Fayha took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The fee is $35.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al-Ra'ed drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Hajer pay $150.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Saudi Al-Watani have kept their man, and Al-Fayha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Paulo Oliveira
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al-Fayha had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Oliveira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A new face in his position, and Jason suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Fayha have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Fayha. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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-Fayha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.