From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Apr 2033
Al-Mojzel sink to position 16
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom25 Apr 2033
Wages eat 127% of everything Al-Mojzel earn
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.
Squad25 Apr 2033
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Apr 2033
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom18 Apr 2033
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Market18 Apr 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Apr 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Apr 2033
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Apr 2033
The manager makes an example of Saeed Al-Sultan
“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.
Squad11 Apr 2033
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Ahmed Al-Harbi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market11 Apr 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nasser Al-Zahrani signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Salem Al-Salem knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salem Al-Salem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad4 Apr 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nawaf Al-Duraywish commits to Al-Mojzel for another 2 years.
Squad4 Apr 2033
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Squad4 Apr 2033
“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.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
Al-Mojzel pull $56.8K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Mar 2033
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 16 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.
Squad28 Mar 2033
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Mar 2033
120% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Mar 2033
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom21 Mar 2033
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Market21 Mar 2033
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Mar 2033
Only the photograph left for Ali Al-Qahtani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Al-Qahtani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Mar 2033
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Mar 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Turki Al-Subaie, and the manager let it.
Market14 Mar 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nasser Al-Zahrani signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market14 Mar 2033
The clock does Youssef Al-Harbi’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Mojzel could ask drops and the wages Youssef Al-Harbi can ask rise.
Squad14 Mar 2033
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Mojzel says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Mar 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Mar 2033
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
14 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.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Match5 Mar 2033
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings7 Mar 2033
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match5 Mar 2033
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Salem Al-Nemer is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Al-Mojzel will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Salem Al-Nemer named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Salem Al-Nemer is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Feb 2033
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match28 Feb 2033
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings28 Feb 2033
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Feb 2033
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.
Squad28 Feb 2033
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match26 Feb 2033
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match26 Feb 2033
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Ohod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings28 Feb 2033
A performance of 8.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom28 Feb 2033
126% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Feb 2033
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match19 Feb 2033
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
12 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2033
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match19 Feb 2033
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 1‑7 beating by Najran was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad21 Feb 2033
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.
Market21 Feb 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Feb 2033
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match19 Feb 2033
Al-Mojzel are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match19 Feb 2033
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Al-Mojzel and Najran, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Feb 2033
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 Feb 2033
0‑3 to Al-Batin, 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.
Market14 Feb 2033
“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.
Market14 Feb 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match12 Feb 2033
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad14 Feb 2033
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youssef Al-Harbi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Feb 2033
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Feb 2033
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Player ratings7 Feb 2033
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 Feb 2033
Al-Jeel come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Mojzel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Feb 2033
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nasser Al-Zahrani and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years.
Match5 Feb 2033
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Damac, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match5 Feb 2033
A bad afternoon for Al-Mojzel against Damac
2‑4 to Damac, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Feb 2033
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jan 2033
Al-Mojzel sink to position 16
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match29 Jan 2033
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Match29 Jan 2033
0‑3 to Al-Njoom, 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.
Market31 Jan 2033
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al-Mojzel have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match29 Jan 2033
Al-Mojzel cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad31 Jan 2033
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Enezi, and the manager let it.
Market31 Jan 2033
Al-Shoulla are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Mojzel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings31 Jan 2033
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 123% of everything Al-Mojzel earn
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
-
Player ratings
Youssef Al-Harbi turns it into his own net
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Jan 2033
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom24 Jan 2033
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match22 Jan 2033
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 0‑6 beating by Al-Ta'ee was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match22 Jan 2033
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Jan 2033
“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.
Market24 Jan 2033
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al-Mojzel have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match22 Jan 2033
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Ta'ee, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 2033
“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.
Match15 Jan 2033
7 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match15 Jan 2033
Al-Ettifaq left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market17 Jan 2033
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Mojzel will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings17 Jan 2033
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Jan 2033
Salem Al-Sulami asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad17 Jan 2033
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad17 Jan 2033
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market17 Jan 2033
The clock does Youssef Al-Harbi’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Mojzel could ask drops and the wages Youssef Al-Harbi can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Jan 2033
A brace, and Hamad Al-Salem takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hamad Al-Salem provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match8 Jan 2033
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Market10 Jan 2033
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jan 2033
Al-Jeel are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Mojzel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match8 Jan 2033
It needed Hamad Al-Salem to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Al-Nahda, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad10 Jan 2033
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.
Squad10 Jan 2033
“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 Jan 2033
One booking too many, and Salem Al-Salem sits out. Al-Mojzel lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Nerves in the Al-Mojzel squad
Abdullah Al-Enezi has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jan 2033
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings3 Jan 2033
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Match1 Jan 2033
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Market3 Jan 2033
The name of Ali Al-Qahtani has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Jan 2033
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Jan 2033
Al-Orobah left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
120% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Dec 2032
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom27 Dec 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Match25 Dec 2032
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 0‑3 beating by Al-Fayha was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad27 Dec 2032
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market27 Dec 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match25 Dec 2032
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Squad27 Dec 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Dec 2032
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Mojzel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Dec 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Dec 2032
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market20 Dec 2032
He is 17, and nobody at Al-Mojzel signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market20 Dec 2032
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market20 Dec 2032
Hamad Al-Hassan is 16, and Al-Mojzel have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2032
0‑3 to Al-Shabab, 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.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Dec 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market13 Dec 2032
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Squad13 Dec 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Al-Qahtani, and the manager let it.
Boardroom13 Dec 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad13 Dec 2032
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.
Market13 Dec 2032
The clock does Salem Al-Sulami’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Mojzel could ask drops and the wages Salem Al-Sulami can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Dec 2032
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Mojzel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match6 Dec 2032
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 15 and 10 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.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom6 Dec 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market6 Dec 2032
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings6 Dec 2032
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Dec 2032
No sign of nerves from Salem Al-Nemer at 20 — 8.01
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Salem Al-Nemer did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad6 Dec 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hamad Al-Shehri commits to Al-Mojzel for another 4 years.
Squad6 Dec 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Nov 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Nov 2032
Only the photograph left for Ali Al-Qahtani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Al-Qahtani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings29 Nov 2032
No sign of nerves from Salem Al-Nemer at 20 — 8.03
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Salem Al-Nemer did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings29 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces29 Nov 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Salem Al-Nemer has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match27 Nov 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Salem Al-Nemer. 1‑0 against Al-Riyadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad29 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raghdan Matri, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market22 Nov 2032
“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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2032
Salem Al-Nemer, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match20 Nov 2032
1‑2 to Al-Shoulla, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Nov 2032
The manager makes an example of Irfan Sulaeman
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Salem Al-Nemer is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Market22 Nov 2032
The name of Nasser Al-Zahrani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Mojzel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2032
1‑5 to Ohod, 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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Nov 2032
8 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Market15 Nov 2032
“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.
Market15 Nov 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match13 Nov 2032
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Ohod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad15 Nov 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2032
“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.
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Nov 2032
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 0‑4 beating by Najran was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match8 Nov 2032
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 15, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market8 Nov 2032
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 Nov 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
7 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.
Squad8 Nov 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saad Al-Khaibari and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Al-Mojzel
-
Boardroom
121% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Nov 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Nov 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Nov 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match30 Oct 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad1 Nov 2032
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.
Squad1 Nov 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Nov 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match23 Oct 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Match23 Oct 2032
A bad afternoon for Al-Mojzel against Damac
0‑2 to Damac, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Oct 2032
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 1‑4 beating by Al-Njoom was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 Oct 2032
Rashid Al-Enezi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market18 Oct 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match16 Oct 2032
4 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Oct 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match9 Oct 2032
0‑5 to Al-Ta'ee, 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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match11 Oct 2032
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 14, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market11 Oct 2032
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Oct 2032
The manager makes an example of Ali Al-Qahtani
“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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
103% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Oct 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market4 Oct 2032
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market4 Oct 2032
Only the photograph left for Ali Al-Qahtani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Al-Qahtani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Oct 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdullah Al-Enezi commits to Al-Mojzel for another 2 years.
Match2 Oct 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
Rashid Al-Enezi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market27 Sep 2032
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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 terraces27 Sep 2032
At 21 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match25 Sep 2032
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Rashid Al-Enezi had Al-Mojzel level again within 1 minutes, and Al-Nahda never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad27 Sep 2032
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Salem
“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.
Match25 Sep 2032
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Sep 2032
Al-Mojzel bow out of the cup
Al-Qadisiyah go through and Al-Mojzel go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
No sign of nerves from Saeed Al-Shehri at 21 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Saeed Al-Shehri did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market20 Sep 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Sep 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces20 Sep 2032
At 21 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.
Match18 Sep 2032
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nasser Al-Zahrani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Mojzel.
Squad20 Sep 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nawaf Al-Duraywish, and the manager let it.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al-Mojzel had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Match11 Sep 2032
0‑4 to Al-Fayha, 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.
Match11 Sep 2032
4 matches without a goal for Al-Mojzel
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Youssef Al-Harbi has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad13 Sep 2032
“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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
89% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Beaten 4 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Sep 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salem Al-Khaibari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match4 Sep 2032
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 0‑3 beating by Al-Saudi Al-Watani was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match4 Sep 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
8 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market6 Sep 2032
Only the photograph left for Ali Al-Qahtani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Al-Qahtani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nawaf Al-Duraywish commits to Al-Mojzel for another 2 years.
Squad6 Sep 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Sep 2032
3 matches without a goal for Al-Mojzel
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Aug 2032
0‑5 to Al-Shabab, 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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match28 Aug 2032
7 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Market30 Aug 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamad Al-Shehri, and the manager let it.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market30 Aug 2032
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Mojzel will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Aug 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Market23 Aug 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market23 Aug 2032
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Mojzel will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings23 Aug 2032
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.44 on the card, and the Al-Mojzel support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings23 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Aug 2032
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Al-Jeel will be the happier side with the point.
Squad23 Aug 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salem Al-Sulami trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match14 Aug 2032
Beaten 1‑4 by Al-Riyadh, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match14 Aug 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
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.
Market16 Aug 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Aug 2032
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
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.
Market16 Aug 2032
The phone has started ringing about Ali Al-Qahtani again, and this time the name on the line is Ohod. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market16 Aug 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Talal Al-Sultan 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.
Market16 Aug 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rashid 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Aug 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad9 Aug 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Mojzel says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Market2 Aug 2032
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Mojzel will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad2 Aug 2032
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad2 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamad Al-Hassan, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
Al-Mojzel pull $97.0K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market2 Aug 2032
The name of Nasser Al-Zahrani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Mojzel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Jul 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jul 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jul 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2032
Add another name to the list: Al-Ettifaq have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ali Al-Qahtani. The answer from Al-Mojzel has not changed — yet.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Ali Al-Qahtani asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Jul 2032
Al-Mojzel sink to position 16
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jul 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Squad12 Jul 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2032
Al-Shoulla are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Mojzel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad12 Jul 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Ali Al-Qahtani is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Al-Mojzel sign 4 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad5 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Hamad Al-Hassan
“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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Al-Mojzel pull $97.0K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market5 Jul 2032
The name of Nasser Al-Zahrani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Mojzel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2032
Hamad Al-Shehri damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jun 2032
“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.
Market28 Jun 2032
The name of Ali Al-Qahtani has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
112% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salem Al-Nemer, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jun 2032
Hamad Al-Shehri damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Jun 2032
Al-Mojzel sink to position 16
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Jun 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Hamad Al-Shehri damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Squad14 Jun 2032
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Jun 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Jun 2032
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ohod will make the call about Youssef Al-Harbi this week. Al-Mojzel have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market14 Jun 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Mojzel, another week without a signature from Youssef Al-Harbi.
Market14 Jun 2032
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Mohammed Al-Hassan leaves Al-Mojzel the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Market7 Jun 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market7 Jun 2032
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Mojzel will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Jun 2032
The manager makes an example of Ali Al-Qahtani
“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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Al-Mojzel pull $97.0K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market7 Jun 2032
The name of Nasser Al-Zahrani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Mojzel say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad31 May 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 May 2032
Wages eat 123% of everything Al-Mojzel earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 May 2032
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad24 May 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad17 May 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom17 May 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market10 May 2032
The name of Nasser Al-Zahrani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Mojzel say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 May 2032
Nerves in the Al-Mojzel squad
Abdullah Al-Enezi has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 May 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom3 May 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad3 May 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 May 2032
122% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad3 May 2032
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Nawaf Al-Duraywish is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Squad3 May 2032
The captaincy has been taken off Saad Al-Khaibari. Al-Mojzel will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Apr 2032
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 16 and 3 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Mojzel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom19 Apr 2032
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market19 Apr 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youssef Al-Harbi, and the manager let it.
Market12 Apr 2032
The name of Nasser Al-Zahrani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Mojzel say nothing, which says plenty.
Market12 Apr 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Ali Al-Qahtani asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad5 Apr 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saad Al-Khaibari and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Apr 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
128% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad5 Apr 2032
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Sulami
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Mar 2032
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 16 and 3 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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salem Al-Sulami trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2032
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market22 Mar 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 2032
Ali Al-Qahtani has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Mar 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Mojzel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad15 Mar 2032
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Mojzel has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad15 Mar 2032
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Mojzel says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Market15 Mar 2032
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Mojzel could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2032
Beaten 0‑4 by Al-Diriyah, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Mojzel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Match6 Mar 2032
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdullah Al-Enezi and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Nawaf Al-Duraywish 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.
Match6 Mar 2032
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad8 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nawaf Al-Duraywish, and the manager let it.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
111% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Mar 2032
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match28 Feb 2032
0‑3 to Al-Nahda, 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad1 Mar 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Nawaf Al-Duraywish is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Feb 2032
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match21 Feb 2032
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
1‑4 against Al-Orobah, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
No sign of nerves from Rashid Al-Enezi at 21 — 7.74
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rashid Al-Enezi did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market23 Feb 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Raghdan Matri 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Mojzel pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Feb 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Feb 2032
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
0‑3 against Al-Batin, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad16 Feb 2032
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market16 Feb 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Feb 2032
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Feb 2032
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Sulami
“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.
Boardroom16 Feb 2032
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Saeed Al-Harbi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market16 Feb 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Mojzel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Feb 2032
Al-Mojzel strike at the death to beat Damac
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Damac had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Al-Mojzel did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hamad Al-Salem and Al-Mojzel agree another 4 years.
The terraces9 Feb 2032
At 19 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.
Match7 Feb 2032
Damac made Al-Mojzel work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings9 Feb 2032
Ninety minutes of Hamad Al-Salem at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Mojzel.
Boardroom9 Feb 2032
113% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Raghdan Matri something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Salem Al-Sulami asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jan 2032
99 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 99, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Feb 2032
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match31 Jan 2032
Beaten 1‑4 by Al-Njoom, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Player ratings2 Feb 2032
No sign of nerves from Rashid Al-Enezi at 21 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rashid Al-Enezi did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamad Al-Salem and Al-Mojzel agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Feb 2032
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Al-Mojzel who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
98 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.
The terraces26 Jan 2032
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad26 Jan 2032
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market26 Jan 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jan 2032
Add another name to the list: Al-Orobah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Youssef Al-Harbi. The answer from Al-Mojzel has not changed — yet.
Match24 Jan 2032
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Jan 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
97 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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match17 Jan 2032
0‑1 to Al-Ettifaq, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Jan 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Irfan Sulaeman and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Sagi Pinhas 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 Jan 2032
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Hamad Al-Hassan will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jan 2032
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
96 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Jan 2032
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 0‑4 beating by Al-Shoulla was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market12 Jan 2032
Al-Mojzel say no — this time
The offer from Al-Orobah for Youssef Al-Harbi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market12 Jan 2032
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Jan 2032
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
109% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
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.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Market12 Jan 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market12 Jan 2032
Al-Jeel are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Mojzel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
95 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.
Match5 Jan 2032
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad5 Jan 2032
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salem Al-Khaibari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad5 Jan 2032
The match ball belongs to Rashid Al-Enezi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings5 Jan 2032
No sign of nerves from Rashid Al-Enezi at 21 — 9.23
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rashid Al-Enezi did not need any: 9.23, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Sultan Al-Subaie: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match3 Jan 2032
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Dec 2031
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
94 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.
The terraces29 Dec 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match27 Dec 2031
0‑4 to Al-Fayha, 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.
Market29 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Sulami
“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.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Sagi Pinhas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Salem Al-Salem something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Dec 2031
93 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 93, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match20 Dec 2031
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
1‑4 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad22 Dec 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Ahmed Al-Harbi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market22 Dec 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Mojzel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad22 Dec 2031
“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-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad22 Dec 2031
The plan did not have a place for Hamad Al-Hassan
Nobody at Al-Mojzel is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Dec 2031
92 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 92, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Dec 2031
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market15 Dec 2031
Sagi Pinhas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Dec 2031
0‑1 to Al-Shabab, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom15 Dec 2031
Wages eat 112% of everything Al-Mojzel earn
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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Hamad Al-Hassan
“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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Sagi Pinhas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Sultan Al-Dosari is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Dec 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
91 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match8 Dec 2031
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salem Al-Khaibari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market8 Dec 2031
“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.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Sultan Al-Dosari, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market8 Dec 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match6 Dec 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Nov 2031
90 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 90, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
The terraces1 Dec 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match29 Nov 2031
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 1‑4 beating by Al-Wehda was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market1 Dec 2031
“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.
Match29 Nov 2031
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad1 Dec 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nasser Al-Zahrani, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 Dec 2031
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Saeed Al-Dawsari, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
89 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match22 Nov 2031
Beaten 0‑5 by Al-Diriyah, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market24 Nov 2031
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Nov 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad24 Nov 2031
“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.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Al-Qahtani and Al-Mojzel agree another 4 years.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Sagi Pinhas 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Nov 2031
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
88 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.
Market17 Nov 2031
“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.
Market17 Nov 2031
Ali Al-Qahtani has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match15 Nov 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Nahda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match15 Nov 2031
Al-Nahda left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Nov 2031
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sultan Al-Subaie, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Beaten 4 times, with 1 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Market17 Nov 2031
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Mojzel could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Nov 2031
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
87 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.
Match10 Nov 2031
Al-Mojzel are in real trouble now
Position 16, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match8 Nov 2031
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
0‑3 against Al-Orobah, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market10 Nov 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
Wages eat 121% of everything Al-Mojzel earn
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.
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel dressing room in a hurry
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.
Market10 Nov 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Mojzel, another week without a signature from Hamad Al-Salem.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Sagi Pinhas 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.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Nov 2031
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
86 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.
The terraces3 Nov 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salem Al-Khaibari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Mojzel
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Nov 2031
“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.
Match1 Nov 2031
1‑3 to Al-Batin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Nov 2031
The manager makes an example of Hamad Al-Shehri
“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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Oct 2031
85 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 85, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Market27 Oct 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match25 Oct 2031
A bad afternoon for Al-Mojzel against Damac
0‑1 to Damac, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Oct 2031
“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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Sagi Pinhas 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.
Market27 Oct 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Mojzel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad27 Oct 2031
“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-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Oct 2031
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Oct 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
84 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match18 Oct 2031
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
23 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad20 Oct 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market20 Oct 2031
Only the photograph left for Ali Al-Qahtani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Al-Qahtani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match18 Oct 2031
1‑3 to Al-Njoom, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Sagi Pinhas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Oct 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hamad Al-Hassan commits to Al-Mojzel for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Oct 2031
83 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 83, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match11 Oct 2031
Al-Mojzel are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 22 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match11 Oct 2031
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
2‑6 against Al-Ta'ee, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match13 Oct 2031
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 16 and 0 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market13 Oct 2031
Sagi Pinhas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 Oct 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Oct 2031
82 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 82, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match4 Oct 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
21 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The terraces6 Oct 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad6 Oct 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sultan Al-Mutairi
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Oct 2031
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salem Al-Khaibari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market6 Oct 2031
“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.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Sep 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
81 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match27 Sep 2031
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
20 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad29 Sep 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sultan Al-Mutairi
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Mojzel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match27 Sep 2031
Beaten 0‑3 by Al-Shoulla, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market29 Sep 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Sep 2031
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match27 Sep 2031
Al-Mojzel cannot find the net
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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Salem Al-Sulami was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Sep 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Sep 2031
80 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 80, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match20 Sep 2031
Al-Mojzel are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 19 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match20 Sep 2031
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
0‑7 against Ohod, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Sep 2031
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.
Market22 Sep 2031
“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.
Market22 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Sep 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al-Mojzel and Ohod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match20 Sep 2031
3 matches without a goal for Al-Mojzel
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.
Boardroom22 Sep 2031
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Sep 2031
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
79 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.
Match13 Sep 2031
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
18 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad15 Sep 2031
There were 14 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match10 Sep 2031
The cup run ends for Al-Mojzel
0‑5 against Al-Qadisiyah, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces15 Sep 2031
Al-Mojzel are taken apart by Al-Qadisiyah — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Market15 Sep 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market15 Sep 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match13 Sep 2031
Al-Fayha left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Sep 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
77 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match6 Sep 2031
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
16 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The terraces8 Sep 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad8 Sep 2031
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match6 Sep 2031
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
1‑4 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market8 Sep 2031
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Ahmed Al-Harbi, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Aug 2031
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
76 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.
Match30 Aug 2031
Al-Mojzel leaking at the back
15 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market1 Sep 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match30 Aug 2031
Hamad Al-Salem scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Al-Shabab, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad1 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Hamad Al-Shehri
“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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Sagi Pinhas 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.
Market1 Sep 2031
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Jeel will make the call about Ali Al-Qahtani this week. Al-Mojzel have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Rashid 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Aug 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
75 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Nasser Al-Zahrani damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match23 Aug 2031
Al-Mojzel are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 14 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market25 Aug 2031
“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.
Match23 Aug 2031
The goals have deserted Al-Mojzel
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Mojzel can tell you which week it ends in.
Match23 Aug 2031
0‑2 to Al-Jeel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market25 Aug 2031
Al-Jeel are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Mojzel will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Sagi Pinhas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Aug 2031
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
74 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Nasser Al-Zahrani damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Match16 Aug 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
13 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad18 Aug 2031
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match16 Aug 2031
0‑5 to Al-Wehda, 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.
Market18 Aug 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Aug 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Salem Al-Sulami 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces11 Aug 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Nasser Al-Zahrani damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Market11 Aug 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Aug 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Aug 2031
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Saeed Al-Harbi reports back to Al-Mojzel with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Ali Al-Qahtani is a better footballer than he was
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.
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Mojzel
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad11 Aug 2031
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Aug 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ibrahim Al-Dosari is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Aug 2031
Nasser Al-Zahrani damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Aug 2031
Damac come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Mojzel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdullah Al-Enezi and Al-Mojzel agree another 2 years.
Market4 Aug 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Sagi Pinhas 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.
Market4 Aug 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Youssef Al-Harbi has his answer from Al-Mojzel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jul 2031
Nasser Al-Zahrani damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
“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.
Market28 Jul 2031
The name of Etem Xhemali has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saeed Al-Harbi is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Oybek Munavvarov has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jul 2031
Nasser Al-Zahrani damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Market21 Jul 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Etem Xhemali in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Jul 2031
Anger at Al-Mojzel spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
Match14 Jul 2031
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 16 and 3 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.
Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssef Al-Harbi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ali Al-Qahtani is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Etem Xhemali 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sultan Al-Subaie commits to Al-Mojzel for another 4 years.
Squad14 Jul 2031
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Salem
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salem Al-Khaibari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The Al-Mojzel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Youssef Al-Harbi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nasser Al-Zahrani and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Etem Xhemali 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.
Market7 Jul 2031
The name of Ali Al-Qahtani has come up in conversations Al-Mojzel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market7 Jul 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Al-Mojzel sign 4 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Faisal Al-Rashid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Jun 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Jun 2031
The phone has started ringing about Etem Xhemali again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Jeel. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Etem Xhemali in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Rashid 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.
Market30 Jun 2031
The clock does Etem Xhemali’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Mojzel could ask drops and the wages Etem Xhemali can ask rise.
Market30 Jun 2031
Al-Mojzel have let the market know Youssef Al-Harbi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Jun 2031
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Etem Xhemali 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.
Market23 Jun 2031
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market23 Jun 2031
Mohammed Al-Shammari is 17, and Al-Mojzel have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market23 Jun 2031
He is 17, and nobody at Al-Mojzel signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad23 Jun 2031
“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-Mojzel will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Jun 2031
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom16 Jun 2031
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match16 Jun 2031
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 16 and 3 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.
Market16 Jun 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market16 Jun 2031
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Etem Xhemali in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Jun 2031
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Njoom will make the call about Ali Al-Qahtani this week. Al-Mojzel have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Rashid is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salem Al-Nemer, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Jun 2031
“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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Jun 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Jun 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oybek Munavvarov commits to Al-Mojzel for another 3 years.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Faisal Al-Rashid 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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salem Al-Salem, and the manager let it.
Market9 Jun 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nasser Al-Zahrani’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market2 Jun 2031
Sagi Pinhas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Etem Xhemali in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
$138.9K taken back off the Al-Mojzel table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Youssef Al-Harbi loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Youssef Al-Harbi's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad2 Jun 2031
“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-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market2 Jun 2031
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Mojzel could get for him.
Squad2 Jun 2031
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Mojzel says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.