The Ghazl El Mahalla Sentinel
Market13 May 2030
Only the photograph left for Mfanuvela Mafuleka
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mfanuvela Mafuleka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ghazl El Mahalla the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 May 2030
A falling-out at Ghazl El Mahalla
Emmanuel Nweke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Ghazl El Mahalla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seif Emam 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 dugout13 May 2030
Abdelrahman Mahrous knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ghazl El Mahalla, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market13 May 2030
No place for Riga in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Riga has his answer from Ghazl El Mahalla; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout13 May 2030
Mfanuvela Mafuleka gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mfanuvela Mafuleka is on it.
Market13 May 2030
The Emmanuel Nweke story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emmanuel Nweke signs something — a contract at Ghazl El Mahalla or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout13 May 2030
The manager makes Ojo Johnson a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ghazl El Mahalla. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Boardroom13 May 2030
Ghazl El Mahalla keep producing them
27 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
In brief
- The dugout Emmanuel Nweke keeps his manager's vote
- Squad Patrick Waqa is settling
- Squad Bolbol back in training