“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Orlando Mosquera knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1-4 to Al-Hilal, 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
“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-Fayha, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Lucas has let it be known that he does not like the way Al-Fayha are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Fayha have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“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-Fayha 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-Fayha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Fayha have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Fayha have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Mansor Al-Beshe is still in the building
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
“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-Fayha, and 5 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Lucas has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Al-Fayha know, and have known for weeks.
“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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Fayha have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 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-Fayha can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Al-Fayha that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Fayha know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Haruki Saruta arrives at Al-Fayha with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
A 1-0 win over Al-Saudi Al-Watani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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-Fayha, and both men came out saying it was fine.