Marked for Amit David
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Jun 2038
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al Ain
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Tempers go at Al Ain
Matías Palacios 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.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Akonnor 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.
Market21 Jun 2038
Add another name to the list: Baniyas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohamed Al Suwaidi. The answer from Al Ain has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jun 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ori Glazer commits to Al Ain for another 4 years.
Squad21 Jun 2038
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jun 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom29 Jun 2037
The numbers do not look good at Al Ain
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market29 Jun 2037
“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 The request is on a desk at Al Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Tempers go at Al Ain
Matías Palacios 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 Jun 2037
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Akonnor 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.
Squad29 Jun 2037
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jun 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Jun 2037
16 seasons of Erik
382 appearances across 16 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Al Ain know what they have.
Boardroom1 Jun 2037
The numbers do not look good at Al Ain
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market1 Jun 2037
“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 Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jun 2037
Tempers go at Al Ain
Matías Palacios 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.
Squad1 Jun 2037
Rafael Rodrigues falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 May 2037
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom4 May 2037
Crisis meeting at Al Ain
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market4 May 2037
“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 Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 May 2037
An order from above at Al Ain: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad4 May 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentino Lazaro and Al Ain agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 May 2037
Jônatas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
$282.6K of the owner's money at Al Ain
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Squad
No hiding place for Ali Saleh
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Market
The Jônatas question follows Al Ain around
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Apr 2037
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.
Boardroom6 Apr 2037
Crisis meeting at Al Ain
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.
Market6 Apr 2037
Amit David hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Ain can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Apr 2037
An order from above at Al Ain: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad6 Apr 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Richard Akonnor commits to Al Ain for another 3 years.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Tempers go at Al Ain
Erik 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 Apr 2037
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
Boardroom6 Apr 2037
$421.4K of the owner's money at Al Ain
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Ali Saleh gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom23 Mar 2037
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al Ain
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market23 Mar 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Ain they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Jônatas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Feb 2037
Houssine Rahimi had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sharjah were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings16 Feb 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match16 Feb 2037
Al Ain refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 48 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings16 Feb 2037
Age has not caught Jônatas yet — 7.82
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market16 Feb 2037
Amit David hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Ain can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Feb 2037
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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Feb 2037
A season average of 7.26 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jônatas 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.
Squad16 Feb 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulkarim Darisi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jan 2037
Valentino Lazaro damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Match17 Jan 2037
No mercy from Al Ain
Al Wasl will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al Ain were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match19 Jan 2037
Al Ain up to position 3
41 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings19 Jan 2037
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad19 Jan 2037
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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
13 goals and a season average of 7.63. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market19 Jan 2037
“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 Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jan 2037
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match17 Jan 2037
Nobody wants to play Al Ain right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.