What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Batin can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Al-Batin asked and Najran said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Abdulrahman Al-Dhafeeri and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Al-Batin have made the call to Al-Shabab. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Simon Falette exposed
Turki Al-Jalfan 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.
“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-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Bader Nasser
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Batin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khaled Al-Khathlan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al-Batin would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Batin says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Simon Falette 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Batin know it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Batin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Simon Falette 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 Abdulaziz Sharifi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Claudio Chandía has moved up it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulla Mohamed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Batin will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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-Batin 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Maher Hakami has, at Al-Batin, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Batin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Amer Khalil 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 Abdulaziz Sharifi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khaled Al-Khathlan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
24 points and a position everybody in the ground can do the arithmetic on. The songs have stopped being about the team and started being about surviving, which is a different noise entirely.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yazan Jari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amer Khalil 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulla Mohamed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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-Batin 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tariq Al-Mutairi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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-Batin 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Salem Barayan.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yazan Jari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amer Khalil 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Three points for Al-Batin, 3‑1 the final word against Al-Mojzel in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Falette 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Batin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin 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-Batin 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al-Batin ran out of time with Al-Mojzel. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Talal Al-Ghamdi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Salem Barayan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Position 15 and 20 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.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
$9.0K was the most the club would pay and Al-Riyadh 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Simon Falette 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.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Batin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yazan Jari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Al-Batin have gone to Al-Mojzel with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
$9.0K on the table at Al-Riyadh. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
In brief
SquadRoger Akato arrives at the club he grew up with
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Batin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Al-Batin and Al-Taawoun have settled on $210.0K. 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.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Al-Nahda this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajer have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Ahli keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Al-Riyadh this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$39.0K was the most the club would pay and Al-Nahda 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Saudi Al-Watani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Batin is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Al-Batin have gone to Al-Nahda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Amer Khalil 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-Batin offered $9.0K; Al-Riyadh said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fateh have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yazan Jari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Batin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Al-Riyadh this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Amer Khalil 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.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Nahda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Amer Khalil 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.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Youssouf M'Changama 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Position 15 and 13 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdoulay Diaby. 1‑0 against Al-Nahda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khaled Al-Khathlan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.98, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Talal Al-Ghamdi could afford to be generous.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Batin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Batin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
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.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ahmed Abdulrahman is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Al-Saudi Al-Watani will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Batin were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 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 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Amer Khalil 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.
69 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
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.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bader Nasser trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nader Al-Muwallad 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Batin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Something was said to Mohammed Al-Shammari and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al-Batin would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Abdulrahman Al-Dhafeeri is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It needed Youssouf M'Changama to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Jeel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Talal Al-Ghamdi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Al-Batin dressing room was either.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Batin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Position 16 and 5 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.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Batin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Yazan Jari has agreed terms with Al-Shoulla for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khaled Al-Khathlan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 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 1‑2 Talal Al-Ghamdi left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Bader Nasser's mistake
The dugoutLizwe Nxele knocks on the manager's door
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Batin know it.
Amer Khalil 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.
“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-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nader Al-Muwallad 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ohod in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
15 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssouf M'Changama and Al-Batin agree another 2 years.
Bader Nasser 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.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Talal Al-Ghamdi to a room that had heard them before.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Bader Nasser and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
0‑3 to Damac, 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.
1 for Nader Al-Muwallad, marked 7.48, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Nader Al-Muwallad on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Batin and Al-Qadisiyah.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Youssouf M'Changama 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ahmed Abdulrahman is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Meshary Al-Qahtani has his answer from Al-Batin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Batin, another week without a signature from Yazan Jari.
In brief
The dugoutAmer Khalil asks for a word with the manager
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Damac 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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 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.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Batin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Al-Ettifaq 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.
Amer Khalil 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bandar Al-Sulami has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Batin know it.
Amer Khalil 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. Al-Ettifaq have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yasir Al-Shammari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdoulay Diaby signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Abdoulay Diaby
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Al-Batin would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Abdulrahman Al-Dhafeeri may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yasir Al-Shammari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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-Batin 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simon Falette trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Batin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yasir Al-Shammari 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.
Al-Batin have made the call to Al-Mojzel. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simon Falette trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammed Al-Sahli signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Youssouf M'Changama 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 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 it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yasir Al-Shammari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdoulay Diaby signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Claudio Chandía has just signed for Al-Batin, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shoulla have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khaled Al-Khathlan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Al-Batin were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Al-Batin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Taawoun, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Meshary Al-Qahtani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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-Batin will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
“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-Batin 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yasir Al-Shammari 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Batin could ask drops and the wages Mazyad Freeh can ask rise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammed Al-Sahli signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Al-Batin know which stage they are at.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdoulay Diaby signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Batin know it.
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.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tariq Al-Mutairi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Al-Batin enter the window
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-Batin 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Batin will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Abdulrahman Al-Khaibary is 39 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin 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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Batin could ask drops and the wages Mazyad Freeh can ask rise.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yasir Al-Shammari 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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yasir Al-Shammari 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bader Nasser trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammed Al-Sahli signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yasir Al-Shammari 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 doing his job and he is not settling. Al-Batin were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simon Falette, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nader Al-Muwallad has his answer from Al-Batin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdulrahman Al-Dhafeeri has written the date down.
A new face in his position, and Mazyad Freeh suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Batin have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 31 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Talal Al-Ghamdi to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSimon Falette knocks on the manager’s door
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin 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 Hisham Al-Dubais 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siya Msomi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al-Hazem in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Al-Batin would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
6 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khaled Al-Khathlan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Yazan Al-Ruwaili 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
The dugoutLizwe Nxele asks for a word with the manager
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Hisham Al-Dubais had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al-Saudi Al-Watani were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Al-Batin know now that the thought has arrived.
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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Youssouf M'Changama and Al-Batin agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Batin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
4 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Talal Al-Ghamdi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Abdoulay Diaby will want back
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Al-Batin now know that too.
Youssouf M'Changama 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 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Talal Al-Ghamdi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutMazyad Freeh dropped after a run of poor form
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Mazyad Freeh
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑4 to Al-Shoulla, 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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-Batin 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Batin pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Majed Al-Ghamdi's mistake
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Three points for Al-Batin, 1‑0 the final word against Ohod in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Qusai Al-Khaibari 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 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Talal Al-Ghamdi could afford to be generous.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Batin may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Al-Batin 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.
“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-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
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.
7.65, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siya Msomi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Turki Al-Jalfan 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 words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
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.
Isaías Rodríguez 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Talal Al-Ghamdi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Damac defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdulla Mohamed provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdulla Mohamed is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Isaías Rodríguez 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Batin and Al-Njoom in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Add another name to the list: Al-Ta'ee have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdulrahman Al-Dhafeeri. The answer from Al-Batin has not changed — yet.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑4 to Al-Riyadh, 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.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Talal Al-Ghamdi to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Hisham Al-Dubais is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
0‑3 to Al-Diriyah, 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.
“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-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Youssouf M'Changama 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 56 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-Batin, 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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Talal Al-Ghamdi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mazyad Freeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Half the programme played, position 9, 21 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Talal Al-Ghamdi after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdulbasit Hawsawi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Batin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdoulay Diaby provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Batin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.02, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Isaías Rodríguez 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Batin can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Abdoulay Diaby
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
“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-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
“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 Nov 2026
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 0‑2 Talal Al-Ghamdi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdoulay Diaby signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Chances created: 5. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
0‑3 to Al-Ettifaq, 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.
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.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 Talal Al-Ghamdi left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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-Batin will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mazyad Freeh
7.60, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Batin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Al-Ettifaq.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Isaías Rodríguez 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Batin will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yasir Al-Shammari has, at Al-Batin, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Batin know it.
Isaías Rodríguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Al-Batin are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Batin told Majed Al-Ghamdi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ohod next, and one man in the Al-Batin dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdoulay Diaby signs something — a contract at Al-Batin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Yasir Al-Shammari is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Batin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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-Batin will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mazyad Freeh
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Isaías Rodríguez has moved up it.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Talal Al-Ghamdi to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
At 26 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Al-Batin have a decision that made itself.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Shoulla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Damac scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdoulay Diaby provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdoulay Diaby. 2‑1 against Al-Njoom, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mazyad Freeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al-Batin close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Al-Batin will try not to make too much of it.
Still no offer on the table, and Abdulla Mohamed’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Isaías Rodríguez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
“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-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Isaías Rodríguez did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Ittihad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Mojzel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Isaías Rodríguez 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al-Diriyah kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al-Batin will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Al-Batin asked and Al-Shoulla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Isaías Rodríguez 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Meshary Al-Qahtani scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The phone has started ringing about Tariq Al-Mutairi again, and this time the name on the line is Ohod. Al-Batin are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Batin will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Batin, another week without a signature from Lizwe Nxele.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Al-Batin are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Al-Batin have made the call to Al-Mojzel. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The deal with Al-Ettifaq 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.
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-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Wael Kadan is living that version at Al-Batin, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Mojzel have kept their man, and Al-Batin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saeed Al-Rashid has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohammed Al-Mansour has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saad Al-Sheikh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmed Al-Mutairi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssouf M'Changama and Al-Batin agree another 2 years.
Youssouf M'Changama 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Yousef Fawaz’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Qusai Al-Khaibari has his answer from Al-Batin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.