81 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.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
At 26 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sami Al-Zahrani 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Waleed Al-Hassan may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
97 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.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 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.
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.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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
111 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.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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 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.
“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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Fateh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nasser Al-Subaie. The answer from Al-Mojzel has not changed — yet.
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. Faisal Al-Subiani is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Nurali Dosmagambetov arrives at Al-Mojzel with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
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.
Position 14 and 30 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.
40 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.
“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.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Hazem runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
“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.
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 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.
“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.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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
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.
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.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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 easiest signature of my career.” Khalid Al-Dawsari and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sami Al-Zahrani 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 Faisal Al-Subiani's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
In brief
BoardroomAl-Mojzel pull $330.7K back off the table
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Waleed Al-Hassan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 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.
Fahad Al-Shammari 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 did not go to Al-Hazem to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Mojzel and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 38 matches say the rest.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamad 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.
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.
“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 terraces14 Feb 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
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 watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Hazem runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamad 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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
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.
In brief
Boardroom100% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
“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.
Mohammed Al-Shammari 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.
0‑1 to Al-Riyadh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sami Al-Zahrani 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulhadi Matari, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Suárez'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.
Marked 5.24. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Abdulhadi Matari, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdulhadi Matari. 1‑0 against Ohod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sami Al-Zahrani 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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al-Faisaly kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al-Mojzel will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Turki Al-Mutairi provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“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.
Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sami Al-Zahrani 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 watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Hazem runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
“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.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Nahda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al-Hazem? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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 terraces1 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 27 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“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.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al-Faisaly the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al-Mojzel will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Salman Al-Subaie provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
Sami Al-Zahrani 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Mojzel has been clear about where Ahmed Al-Mansour stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ceyhun Bağırzadə is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khalid Al-Dawsari and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Nahda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
Sami Al-Zahrani 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.
Lucas Suárez, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 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.
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.78 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
Omar Al-Enezi 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 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 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Sami Al-Zahrani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Subiani 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.
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ittihad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Getting past Salman Al-Otaibi has become the hardest job in the division
6 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Marked 5.62. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
“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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 5.89, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Turki Al-Mutairi 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Sami Al-Zahrani 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.