Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Epeli Vunibola is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mohammed Al-Qarni 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Jeel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Sandro Greco has improved at 32, which nobody expected
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Al-Qarni 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salem Al-Khaibari is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Youssef Al-Mansour has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Mansour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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-Mojzel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
In brief
Boardroom106% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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 offer from Al-Shabab for Majed Kanabah 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
He is 18, and nobody at Al-Mojzel signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Akmal Tukhtasinov and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nzubechi Sunday will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Majed Kanabah is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
In brief
Boardroom$325.1K taken back off the Al-Mojzel table
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sami Al-Qahtani signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 16 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Mojzel could ask drops and the wages Nzubechi Sunday can ask rise.
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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Al-Orobah for Matías Romano 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.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Mojzel says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Behruz Islomov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Hayk Khachatryan's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sami Al-Zahrani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Omar Al-Rashid something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sami Al-Qahtani signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hayk Khachatryan is living that version at Al-Mojzel, and it tends to show in the first month.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 149% of everything Al-Mojzel earn
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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-Mojzel know it.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nzubechi Sunday will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” João Fernandes and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Sandro Greco 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 squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Majed Kanabah is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
In brief
Boardroom$325.1K taken back off the Al-Mojzel table
Sandro Greco 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 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Majed Kanabah's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Mojzel has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sami Al-Qahtani signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nasser Al-Saiari 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Mojzel, and 8 appearances in 43 say he has earned the hearing.
“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-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Mojzel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Nasser Al-Saiari's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sami Al-Qahtani signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
“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-Mojzel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Shoulla runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Mojzel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Sami Al-Sulami 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. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Mojzel and Al-Orobah in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
9.16. 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nzubechi Sunday has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Shoulla runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Majed Kanabah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
7.57, 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.
The deal that would have taken Youssef Al-Mansour to Al-Orobah has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Mojzel with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Majed Al-Awad
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Majed Al-Awad has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Mojzel have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
BoardroomAl-Mojzel pull $325.1K back off the table
Position 15 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match29 Jan 2028
Omar Al-Sultan wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Omar Al-Sultan found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Al-Njoom went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omar Al-Sultan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
1‑8 to Al-Wehda, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Beaten 8 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Jan 2028
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Mojzel and Al-Ettifaq in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Mojzel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Sandro Greco 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Sami Al-Sulami 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 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-Mojzel know it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
18 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Omar Al-Sultan again, and this time the name on the line is Hajer. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Sandro Greco 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 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 run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
The mood at Al-Mojzel 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
0‑4 to Najran, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Mojzel, and 2 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Mojzel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khalid Al-Enezi 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.
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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Sami Al-Sulami'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.
Position 16 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
1‑4 to Al-Jeel, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
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.
The mood at Al-Mojzel 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.
13 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
12 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sandro Greco 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 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Mojzel, and 2 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
7.42, 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Sandro Greco 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 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Mojzel can tell you which week it ends in.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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-Mojzel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 mood at Al-Mojzel 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamad 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
0‑3 to Al-Njoom, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khalid Al-Qahtani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Sandro Greco 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.
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 mood at Al-Mojzel 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑7 to Al-Ettifaq, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Khalid Al-Enezi scored, was marked 6.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals in one match, Khalid Al-Enezi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Mojzel and Al-Ettifaq.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
“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-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The mood at Al-Mojzel 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
34 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Sandro Greco 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 Aug 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salman Al-Khaibari 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Sandro Greco 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 name of Youssef Al-Mansour has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
32 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Mojzel and Al-Riyadh in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omar Al-Sultan 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.
The mood at Al-Mojzel 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. 14 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Omar Al-Sultan has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Omar Al-Sultan to Al-Fayha has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Mojzel with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
The mood at Al-Mojzel 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. 28 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Sandro Greco has improved at 31, which nobody expected
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.
The mood at Al-Mojzel 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. 58 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Al-Jeel for Omar Al-Sultan 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.
Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
In brief
SquadSandro Greco falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Mojzel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Omar Al-Sultan again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Jeel. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Shoulla will make the call about Sami Al-Zahrani this week. Al-Mojzel have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
BoardroomAl-Mojzel pull $682.6K back off the table
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
In brief
Boardroom108% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
Boardroom$682.6K taken back off the Al-Mojzel table
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Sandro Greco 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 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saeed Al-Sheikh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sandro Greco 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 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Sandro Greco 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 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.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 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.
In brief
SquadMeshal Sibyani loses the manager who believed in him
BoardroomAl-Mojzel pull $682.6K back off the table
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hajer runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saeed Al-Sheikh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Mojzel can tell you which week it ends in.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
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.
Position 16 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamad 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Mojzel, and 1 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
27 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Omar Al-Sultan reports back to Al-Mojzel with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
In brief
Boardroom109% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
26 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Sandro Greco 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.
23 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.
Sami Al-Sulami 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 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
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.
Position 16 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
0‑4 to Al-Hazem, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamad 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.
21 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.
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.
1‑4 to Al-Fayha, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Meshal Sibyani 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
BoardroomNobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Sheikh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Sandro Greco 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.
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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Ettifaq, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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 words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
0‑4 to Al-Shoulla, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
BoardroomNobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
15 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.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Orobah, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sandro Greco 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.
Meshal Sibyani 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Mojzel can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Hamad Al-Ghamdi'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.
Position 16 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Riyadh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Sami Al-Sulami 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Diriyah, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Greco 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sandro Greco 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.
Al-Nahda held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al-Mojzel answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.