Marked for Catriel Peña
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
A defender's goal wins it for Al-Nassr — 7.68
1 for Faisal Al-Subiani, marked 7.68, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market5 Nov 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Nov 2035
“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-Nassr know it.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words exchanged at Al-Nassr
Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
Match3 Nov 2035
It finished 1‑0, and it was Faisal Al-Subiani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Nassr.
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market5 Nov 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad5 Nov 2035
8 new faces, and Al-Nassr 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.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salman Al-Sheikh 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Oct 2035
“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-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Oct 2035
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem is living that version at Al-Nassr, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market29 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Aiman Yahya 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.
Match27 Oct 2035
At last: Al-Nassr win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Al-Wehda. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match27 Oct 2035
A 1‑0 win over Al-Wehda, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
The afternoon belonged to Catriel Peña
A mark of 7.69, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Oct 2035
The wait goes on for Al-Nassr
5 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.
Boardroom22 Oct 2035
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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words exchanged at Al-Nassr
Awad Dahal 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 dugout22 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi, and the manager let it.
Match20 Oct 2035
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Sep 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Catriel Peña 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.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
A row about effort at Al-Nassr
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salman Al-Sheikh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al-Nassr dressing room was either.
Market24 Sep 2035
The clock does Malick Berté’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Nassr could ask drops and the wages Malick Berté can ask rise.
Market24 Sep 2035
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Nassr has been clear about where Nkosinathi Nyide stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match22 Sep 2035
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Al-Fayha came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2035
Al-Nassr march on in the cup
Al-Mojzel are out and Al-Nassr go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market17 Sep 2035
Malick Berté has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Nassr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
Omar Al-Rashid, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words exchanged at Al-Nassr
Faisal Al-Subiani 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 terraces17 Sep 2035
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad17 Sep 2035
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
Ahmed Sharaf gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch17 Sep 2035
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Taawoun runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Sep 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Sep 2035
A falling-out at Al-Nassr
Aiman Yahya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2035
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.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amar Al-Yuhaybi, and the manager let it.
Market10 Sep 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Sep 2035
8 new faces, and Al-Nassr 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.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
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 Amar Al-Yuhaybi is on it.
Looking ahead10 Sep 2035
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Waleed Al-Ahmad’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Nassr needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad10 Sep 2035
A season on the outside for Catriel Peña
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Nassr has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Sep 2035
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Wehda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad3 Sep 2035
55 days out for Mateo Fonseca after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Faisaly will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Sep 2035
Catriel Peña has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Faisaly they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market3 Sep 2035
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout3 Sep 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Faisaly may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Al-Faisaly close the window on a squad of their own making
24 in and 19 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Sattam Al-Lehiyani 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.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Khaleej have kept their man, and Al-Faisaly go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match1 Sep 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Mateo Fonseca out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Faisaly will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Aug 2035
The wait goes on for Al-Faisaly
6 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.
Market20 Aug 2035
The phone has started ringing about Abdullah Al-Rashidi again, and this time the name on the line is Najran. Al-Faisaly are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
$130.0K on the table at Al-Khaleej. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
Still no name above the door at Al-Faisaly
Day 10 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Catriel Peña 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.
Match18 Aug 2035
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Sattam Al-Lehiyani had Al-Faisaly level again within 4 minutes, and Al-Shabab never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad20 Aug 2035
6 new faces, and Al-Faisaly 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Aug 2035
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad6 Aug 2035
83 days out for Mateo Fonseca after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Faisaly will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market6 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Ta'ee waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market6 Aug 2035
Catriel Peña has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Faisaly they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Faisaly have done the hard part with Hajer, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Al-Faisaly offered $140.0K; Al-Taawoun 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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Tapsirou Sidy Lam 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 dugout6 Aug 2035
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Faisaly told Catriel Peña something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Faisal Al-Bakr
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Faisaly lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Jul 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market30 Jul 2035
Al-Hilal come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Faisaly did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Al-Faisaly have gone to Al-Taawoun with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Fahad Al-Dossari 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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A row about effort at Al-Faisaly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Catriel Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
Mohamed Absi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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 dugout30 Jul 2035
Salman Al-Salem back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Al-Faisaly has worked with Salman Al-Salem before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jul 2035
Faisal Al-Bakr damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Faisaly will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Faisaly people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market16 Jul 2035
Al-Taawoun come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Faisaly did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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-Faisaly, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Al-Faisaly have gone to Al-Taawoun with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad16 Jul 2035
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jul 2035
“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-Faisaly are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout16 Jul 2035
Salman Al-Salem back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Al-Faisaly has worked with Salman Al-Salem before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Faisal Al-Bakr
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Faisaly lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Faisaly will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Jul 2035
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Faisaly people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market9 Jul 2035
Catriel Peña has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Faisaly they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
The deal with Hajer is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market9 Jul 2035
The phone has started ringing about Saad Al-Sharfa again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Fateh. Al-Faisaly are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
Al-Faisaly offered $140.0K; Al-Taawoun 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2035
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Jun 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Fahad Al-Dossari 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 Jun 2035
Catriel Peña 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.
Market11 Jun 2035
The phone has started ringing about Hassan Al-Qahtani again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Jeel. Al-Faisaly are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market11 Jun 2035
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Saad Al-Sharfa has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Faisaly.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Too much change too quickly at Al-Faisaly
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market11 Jun 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout11 Jun 2035
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Nemer
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jun 2035
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom4 Jun 2035
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Jun 2035
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market4 Jun 2035
The offer from Al-Ahli for Abdullah Al-Rashidi 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.
Squad4 Jun 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fahad Al-Dossari and Al-Faisaly agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Mohamed Absi in a row with a teammate
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jun 2035
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roraigh Browne has his answer from Al-Faisaly; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Catriel Peña 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.
Market4 Jun 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Faisaly, another week without a signature from Abdullah Al-Rashidi.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 May 2035
Faisal Al-Bakr damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Market21 May 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Squad21 May 2035
A row about effort at Al-Faisaly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Catriel Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 May 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Faisaly can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout21 May 2035
Catriel Peña knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Catriel Peña trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2035
Only the photograph left for Catriel Peña
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Catriel Peña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Faisaly the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 May 2035
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 May 2035
A row about effort at Al-Faisaly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Catriel Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 May 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Faisaly, another week without a signature from Ahmed Al-Ghamdi.
The dugout14 May 2035
“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 dugout14 May 2035
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.
Market14 May 2035
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Al-Faisaly money.
The dugout14 May 2035
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 Abdullah Al-Shehri has written the date down.
Boardroom14 May 2035
The Al-Faisaly academy earns its keep
83 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 May 2035
Mohamed Absi in a row with a teammate
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2035
“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-Faisaly know it.
Squad7 May 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdullah Al-Shehri and Al-Faisaly agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market7 May 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout7 May 2035
Mohamed Absi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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 dugout7 May 2035
“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 dugout7 May 2035
“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-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 May 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Divine Igwe Ikenna signs something — a contract at Al-Faisaly or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market7 May 2035
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Faisaly could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Squad30 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Al-Faisaly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Catriel Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Too much change too quickly at Al-Faisaly
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Salman Al-Salem back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Al-Faisaly has worked with Salman Al-Salem before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
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 Al-Nakhli is on it.
Market30 Apr 2035
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Faisaly could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Apr 2035
Azzam Al-Bishi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Faisaly they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2035
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Catriel Peña 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 dugout23 Apr 2035
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 Al-Salem is on it.
Market23 Apr 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Faisaly, another week without a signature from Rashid Al-Subaie.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
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 Hamad Al-Sayyaf has written the date down.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
“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-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad23 Apr 2035
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Loan watch23 Apr 2035
22 days left on the agreement, 7 appearances behind him, and two clubs who have both been putting off the same conversation.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Apr 2035
Only the photograph left for Catriel Peña
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Catriel Peña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Faisaly the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Sattam Al-Lehiyani 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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Luken Bravo 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-Faisaly, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“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 dugout16 Apr 2035
Salman Al-Salem has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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.
Market16 Apr 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Loan watch16 Apr 2035
24 starts now, an average of 6.58, and the team sheet at Al-Ra'ed has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Apr 2035
Catriel Peña hands in a written request
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Catriel Peña 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 dugout2 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Catriel Peña
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
7 new faces, and Al-Faisaly 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.
Market2 Apr 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad2 Apr 2035
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hassan Al-Qahtani is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
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.
Market2 Apr 2035
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Faisaly could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Mar 2035
“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.
Market26 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Market26 Mar 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sami Al-Rashid is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Mar 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fahad Al-Salem is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Mar 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohammed Al-Enezi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Catriel Peña 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 dugout26 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Mar 2035
“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-Faisaly can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom19 Mar 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Catriel Peña has agreed terms with Al-Nassr for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Catriel Peña 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 2035
“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-Faisaly are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
Salman Al-Salem back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Al-Faisaly has worked with Salman Al-Salem before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamad Al-Sayyaf, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmed Al-Ghamdi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Mar 2035
A fracture rules Hisham Al-Dubais out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Nassr will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Jeremy Jorge in a row with a teammate
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-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Nassr is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom19 Mar 2035
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.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Nawaf Bu Washl 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Mar 2035
“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-Faisaly, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Mar 2035
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Mohamed Absi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Mohamed Absi in a row with a teammate
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Catriel Peña 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 dugout12 Mar 2035
Mohamed Absi gets picked when it counts
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 Mohamed Absi is on it.
Market12 Mar 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad12 Mar 2035
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al-Faisaly are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Salman Al-Salem back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Al-Faisaly has worked with Salman Al-Salem before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Mar 2035
Abdulrahman Hazazi damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 Mar 2035
“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-Faisaly, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Faisaly may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Fahad Al-Dossari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Faisaly can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market5 Mar 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Too much change too quickly at Al-Faisaly
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Feb 2035
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Feb 2035
Al-Faisaly finish in position 10
26 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match24 Feb 2035
4 matches without a win for Al-Faisaly
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Faisaly are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
A row about effort at Al-Faisaly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Catriel Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Feb 2035
A mark of 7.90, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match24 Feb 2035
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
“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 dugout26 Feb 2035
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2035
Hamad Al-Sayyaf damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Market5 Feb 2035
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market5 Feb 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout5 Feb 2035
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
Al-Faisaly close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Mohamed Absi 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.
Match3 Feb 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Catriel Peña 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 dugout5 Feb 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2035
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Jan 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market8 Jan 2035
“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-Faisaly, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Jan 2035
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Riyadh had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
Azzam Al-Bishi: 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-Faisaly have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match6 Jan 2035
No end in sight to Al-Faisaly's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Faisaly has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Mohamed Absi in a row with a teammate
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-Faisaly this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jan 2035
Hamad Al-Sayyaf damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market1 Jan 2035
“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-Faisaly, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match30 Dec 2034
4 matches without a win for Al-Faisaly
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Faisaly are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2035
“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-Faisaly know it.
Market1 Jan 2035
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Faisaly has been clear about where Divine Igwe Ikenna stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
Salman Al-Salem back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Al-Faisaly has worked with Salman Al-Salem before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Dec 2034
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Faisaly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Dec 2034
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Yassin Hossam will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Al-Faisaly escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings25 Dec 2034
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market25 Dec 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Faisaly the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Mohamed Absi 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.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Words at Al-Faisaly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Al-Ghamdi 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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2034
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout25 Dec 2034
The manager makes an example of Catriel Peña
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Faisal Al-Dawsari commits to Al-Faisaly for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hamad Al-Sayyaf
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Faisaly lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Nov 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fahad Al-Dossari and Al-Faisaly agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Mohamed Absi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2034
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Faisaly can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom6 Nov 2034
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.
Match4 Nov 2034
0‑1 to Al-Ra'ed, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdullah Al-Rashidi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
Mohamed Absi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Faisaly 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2034
Hamad Al-Sayyaf damages knee ligaments — 145 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 145 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.
Match21 Oct 2034
Ohod will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Faisaly were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market23 Oct 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Faisaly is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Mohamed Absi 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.
Boardroom23 Oct 2034
Al-Shabab will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Fahad Al-Shammari has pre-agreed a move to Al-Faisaly, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad23 Oct 2034
A row about effort at Al-Faisaly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Al-Ghamdi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings23 Oct 2034
Catriel Peña beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Oct 2034
The afternoon belonged to Mohamed Absi
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2034
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Faisaly people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Fahad Al-Dossari 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 Sep 2034
Catriel Peña gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Catriel Peña has just signed for Al-Faisaly, and for once the answer mattered.
Market11 Sep 2034
The name of Azzam Al-Bishi has come up in conversations Al-Faisaly were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Faisal Al-Bakr has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Faisaly have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ahli have kept their man, and Al-Faisaly go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
The clock did what Al-Shabab would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Ahmed Al-Ghamdi 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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Faisaly can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Jan 2034
Villarreal come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nacional did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad2 Jan 2034
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Nacional will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Boardroom2 Jan 2034
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $68.9K of what Nacional paid for Catriel Peña is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Market2 Jan 2034
Miguel Rodríguez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nacional hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The dugout2 Jan 2034
“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.
Transfer targets2 Jan 2034
The offer went to Penarol this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market2 Jan 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nahuel González will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nacional the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom2 Jan 2034
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $328.2K — a club that wants Esteban da Silva enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets2 Jan 2034
$300.0K on the table at Penarol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.