Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Al-Shabab until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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 easiest signature of my career.” Mohammed Al-Thani and Al-Shabab agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Sultan Mandash and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 148 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with Al-Hazem is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
Sultan Mandash 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Al-Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Shabab lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Saleh Al-Shehri 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Brownhill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al-Shabab will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Yasser Al-Khaibari is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omar Colley trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.23 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deal with Al-Hazem is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Saleh Al-Shehri 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 Jan 2029
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulelah Al-Malki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Shabab the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rashid Al-Harbi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Shabab is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
Sultan Mandash and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Shabab has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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-Shabab 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Shabab 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-Shabab 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rashid Al-Harbi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Shabab they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
Sultan Mandash and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It needed Hammam Al-Hammami to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Ettifaq, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
Sultan Mandash 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Theyab Absa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al-Mojzel tried to reorganise, Al-Shabab did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zenit keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Zob Ahan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dhari Al-Anazi. The answer from Al-Shabab has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Itodo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Shabab the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Brownhill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sultan Mandash 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.
Al-Shabab asked and Al-Ta'ee said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
At 32 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.
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.
Sultan Mandash and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
8.12. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rashid Al-Harbi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Saleh Al-Shehri is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The deal with Al-Ittihad is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Al-Shabab asked and Al-Ta'ee said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Shabab
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Damac were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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 offer from Saipa for Tin Jedvaj 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
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-Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Al-Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al-Shabab have made the call to Chamois Niortais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The fee is $1.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al-Faisaly drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Everything agreed with Al-Ittihad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Al-Ahli paid $1.2M and Al-Shabab took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Brownhill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 32 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tondela have kept their man, and Al-Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al-Shabab have made the call to Al-Faisaly. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Al-Shabab and Al-Faisaly have settled on $1.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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-Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yousef Fawaz is living that version at Al-Shabab, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Shabab they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 16 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
$44.0K was the most the club would pay and Al-Taawoun were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
Sultan Mandash 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Ali Al-Asmari and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The loan was meant to give him football. 3 games and 0 goals later he is back at Al-Shabab no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Nobody at Al-Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Hurbush trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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-Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ali Azaizeh is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Shabab, another week without a signature from Faisal Al-Subiani.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Josh Brownhill plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Josh Brownhill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Azaizeh, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Shabab 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Basil Al-Sayyali is on it.
“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-Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Roger Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Brownhill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Shabab will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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-Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Roger Martínez 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Ahmed Al-Muwallad has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Shabab have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Shabab will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Basil Al-Sayyali is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Shabab people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Basil Al-Sayyali had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Al-Fateh for Ali Makki 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.
Roger Martínez 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Najran will make the call about Roger Martínez this week. Al-Shabab have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Brownhill 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.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Hammam Al-Hammami had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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-Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Sultan Mandash again, and this time the name on the line is Arab Contractors. Al-Shabab are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with Al-Ittihad is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Roger Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Roger Martínez 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Sultan Mandash.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rashid Al-Harbi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Shabab lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Brownhill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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-Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Hammam Al-Hammami has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Roger Martínez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Brownhill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Rashid Al-Harbi left the room before anybody could ask which.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Al-Shabab can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.