The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Taawoun have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Taawoun heard it as anything else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Fateh is saying, and nobody at Al-Taawoun is enjoying the guessing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abdulrahman Al-Shammari has, at Al-Taawoun, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Orobah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Taawoun have done the hard part with Al-Wehda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The shirt still fits. Saleh Al-Ohaymid is back at Al-Taawoun, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Add another name to the list: Al-Saudi Al-Watani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohammed Suhluli. The answer from Al-Taawoun has not changed — yet.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fahad Al-Rashidi 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.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fahad Al-Rashidi has his answer from Al-Taawoun; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Younes El Bahraoui is on it.
Al-Taawoun and Hajer have settled on $270.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Mohammed Al-Baqawi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
39 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
A new face in his position, and Maílson suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Taawoun have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“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-Taawoun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Aschraf El Mahdioui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Ta'ee said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Maílson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Taawoun will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Aschraf El Mahdioui keeps the shirt for now, at Al-Taawoun's convenience rather than his own.
The deal with Al-Ittihad is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Fateh is saying, and nobody at Al-Taawoun is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abderrazak Hamdallah and Al-Taawoun agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Aschraf El Mahdioui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fateh have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Hazem said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Jul 2029
8 new faces, and Al-Taawoun are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“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-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Taawoun have done the hard part with Al-Ra'ed, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Al-Taawoun had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ittihad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from Al-Fateh for Ahmed Bahusayn 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Taawoun hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Add another name to the list: Al-Shabab have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdulrahman Hindi. The answer from Al-Taawoun has not changed — yet.
Al-Wehda paid $29.0K and Al-Taawoun took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Ettifaq said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Al-Taawoun have made the call to Al-Ittihad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Koshaim Al-Qahtani is on it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mohammed Al-Saedi has agreed terms with Al-Ettifaq for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mohammed Al-Baqawi 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmed Bahusayn is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 5 on 39 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“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-Taawoun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomThe Al-Taawoun production line keeps running
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al-Taawoun had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Abdulrahman Al-Senaidi has agreed terms with Al-Shoulla for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutAli Al-Sakakir asks for a word with the manager
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
7 goals in 25 games at Al-Diriyah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Taawoun updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Fawaz Al-Hamad and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oscar signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Yazan Madani has moved up it.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdullah Al-Qahtani is on it.
39 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
22 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Marin Petkov has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Fahad Al-Rashidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Abdullah Al-Salem has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Taawoun lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yazan Madani has, at Al-Taawoun, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Mohammed Al-Baqawi 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A new face in his position, and Aschraf El Mahdioui suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Taawoun have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Taawoun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Younes El Bahraoui is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oscar signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
In brief
SquadMarin Petkov has seen what the next man earns
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
39 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“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-Taawoun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Taawoun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Abderrazak Hamdallah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Al-Fateh will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nader Al-Sharari has pre-agreed a move to Al-Taawoun, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Al-Taawoun would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
7 goals in 24 games at Al-Diriyah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Taawoun updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammed Suhluli is on it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Taawoun heard it as anything else.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Younes El Bahraoui is on it.
Something was said to Abdulaziz Al-Othman and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oscar signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al-Taawoun have no good answer.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marin Petkov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
39 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al-Taawoun have no good answer.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al-Taawoun scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Taawoun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Maílson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑6 to Al-Qadisiyah, 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.
7 goals in one match, Abdulaziz Al-Othman on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Taawoun and Al-Qadisiyah.
Beaten 6 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Fahad Al-Rashidi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑6, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad19 Feb 2029
5 new faces, and Al-Taawoun are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Aschraf El Mahdioui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Al-Taawoun can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdullah Al-Qahtani provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Taawoun and Al-Hazem, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
12 combined actions and 7.63. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Taawoun people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Taawoun have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Taawoun heard it as anything else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Nassr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
0‑3 against Al-Ittihad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maílson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Taawoun pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
Al-Ta'ee will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Yazan Madani has pre-agreed a move to Al-Taawoun, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Meshary Al-Qahtani and Al-Taawoun agree another 3 years.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Maílson now has 25 of them across 287 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Mohammed Suhluli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Marin Petkov
“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-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
Fahad Al-Rashidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Al-Taawoun and a proper look at me.” He remains Al-Nassr’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Nasser Al-Ahmadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Taawoun will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Famara Diédhiou 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al-Ahli; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Ahmadi to a room that had heard them before.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abderrazak Hamdallah and Al-Taawoun agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Al-Taawoun have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marin Petkov. 3‑1 against Al-Ra'ed, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Al-Ra'ed spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Abdulaziz Majrashi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Taawoun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Mohammed Suhluli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Koshaim Al-Qahtani is on it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Al-Ra'ed next, and one man in the Al-Taawoun dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
Three points for Al-Taawoun, 1‑0 the final word against Al-Qadisiyah in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Oscar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nasser Al-Ahmadi could afford to be generous.
Something was said to Mohammed Al-Baqawi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Taawoun, another week without a signature from Koshaim Al-Qahtani.
Abderrazak Hamdallah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Taawoun, and 4 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Abderrazak Hamdallah in the middle of it, and Hajer unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Oscar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Marin Petkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It needed Aschraf El Mahdioui to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Hazem, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aschraf El Mahdioui signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
Famara Diédhiou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The medical room confirms 63 days on the sidelines for Younes El Bahraoui, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
Nawaf Al-Huwiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Damac next, and one man in the Al-Taawoun dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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-Taawoun will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Taawoun. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Taawoun have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mohammed Al-Baqawi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Cristhoper Zambrano scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Al-Hilal, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Ahmadi to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Al-Taawoun and a proper look at me.” He remains Al-Nassr’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Nasser Al-Ahmadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Taawoun, another week without a signature from Koshaim Al-Qahtani.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Ahmed Bahusayn, marked 7.92, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
6 new faces, and Al-Taawoun are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Al-Mojzel go through and Al-Taawoun go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Nasser Al-Ahmadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Koshaim Al-Qahtani is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nawaf Al-Huwiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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-Taawoun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Taawoun will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdullah Al-Salem’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Taawoun needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Al-Taawoun close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Abderrazak Hamdallah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ali Al-Sakakir is living that version at Al-Taawoun, and it tends to show in the first month.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Add another name to the list: Al-Jeel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muteb Al-Mufarrij. The answer from Al-Taawoun has not changed — yet.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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-Taawoun, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Taawoun have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Taawoun
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Al-Taawoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. Al-Taawoun had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Turki Al-Otaibi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sultan Al-Salem has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rashid Al-Nemer has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Taawoun have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fahad Al-Rashidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The fee is $1.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al-Khaleej drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The name of Ahmed Bahusayn has come up in conversations Al-Taawoun were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Orobah have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Mohammed Al-Baqawi is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al-Khaleej; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Al-Taawoun asked and Damac said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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-Taawoun will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Taawoun people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
$350.0K on the table at Al-Ahli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al-Taawoun will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Taawoun. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Taawoun will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jan Petek is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Taawoun people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Taawoun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Al-Shoulla for Muteb Al-Mufarrij 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Faisaly have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al-Taawoun have made the call to Al-Ahli. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad26 Jun 2028
5 new faces, and Al-Taawoun are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Taawoun will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Taawoun people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Al-Shoulla for Abdulrahman Hindi 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fahad Al-Rashidi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Al-Taawoun have made the call to Al-Faisaly. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The phone has started ringing about Abdulrahman Hindi again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Shoulla. Al-Taawoun are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ettifaq have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fahad Al-Rashidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Taawoun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Fahad Al-Rashidi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
27 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Al-Taawoun now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Younes El Bahraoui is on it.
44 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Taawoun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ali Al-Sakakir has agreed terms with Al-Nahda for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Al-Taawoun will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Abdulaziz Al-Othman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Taawoun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Muteb Al-Mufarrij was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
7 goals in 24 games at Najran — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Taawoun updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Taawoun has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Taawoun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abderrazak Hamdallah and Al-Taawoun agree another 2 years.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Taawoun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al-Taawoun would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saif Rashad is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Farhah Al-Shamrani is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Taawoun has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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.
Position 5 on 44 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Marin Petkov
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Talal Al-Dosari 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aschraf El Mahdioui signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Taawoun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Parfait Guiagon wants continental football; whether Al-Taawoun can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Koshaim Al-Qahtani is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Taawoun. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Hamoud Bassam has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saif Rashad is on it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al-Taawoun the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Abderrazak Hamdallah has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
BoardroomThe Al-Taawoun production line keeps running
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Taawoun heard it as anything else.
The captaincy has been taken off Aschraf El Mahdioui. Al-Taawoun will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Farhah Al-Shamrani is on it.
44 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aschraf El Mahdioui signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdullah Al-Qahtani is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Taawoun. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Youssef Al-Nahdi has agreed terms with Damac for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Abderrazak Hamdallah 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Fahad Al-Hamad has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Taawoun have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Taawoun will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
6 goals in 27 games at Al-Jeel — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Taawoun updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saif Rashad is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Taawoun will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al-Taawoun have no good answer.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aschraf El Mahdioui and Al-Taawoun agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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-Taawoun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marin Petkov. 1‑0 against Al-Ettifaq, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulrahman Hindi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Taawoun the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al-Khaleej; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Al-Taawoun man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Oscar was the best thing in any of them.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oscar provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Taawoun know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ittihad have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oscar. 2‑0 against Al-Hazem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match12 Feb 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Al-Taawoun. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ali Lajami
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Taawoun have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Al-Taawoun until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Khaleej have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Jeel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ahli have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al-Taawoun are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Taawoun pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Al-Ettifaq, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Parfait Guiagon. 2‑1 against Al-Nassr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al-Taawoun are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Koshaim Al-Qahtani is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Muteb Al-Mufarrij's mistake
The clubs have shaken hands with Al-Qadisiyah; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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-Taawoun can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al-Ra'ed tried to reorganise, Al-Taawoun did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Marin Petkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Aschraf El Mahdioui's mistake
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Taawoun have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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-Taawoun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Al-Fateh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohammed Al-Kuwaykibi. The answer from Al-Taawoun has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Al-Taawoun asked and Al-Khaleej said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ali Lajami was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmed Bahusayn again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Shoulla. Al-Taawoun are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fateh have kept their man, and Al-Taawoun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Nasser Al-Ahmadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Moustapha Sémbène and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Ahmadi to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmed Bahusayn is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al-Shabab in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Al-Faisaly will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Taawoun hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Muteb Al-Mufarrij was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Al-Taawoun lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Taawoun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Abderrazak Hamdallah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Taawoun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Nasser Al-Ahmadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Koshaim Al-Qahtani is on it.
“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-Taawoun will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Al-Hilal will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ali Al-Mahdawi has pre-agreed a move to Al-Taawoun, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Moustapha Sémbène was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdullah Al-Bahri commits to Al-Taawoun for another 1 years.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Ahmadi to a room that had heard them before.
Marin Petkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Position 5, 22 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
A 1‑1 draw with Al-Ettifaq leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It finished 1-4. 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.
“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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marin Petkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Al-Taawoun deserved better, and so did he.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aschraf El Mahdioui signs something — a contract at Al-Taawoun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ali Lajami’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Taawoun needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Taawoun has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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-Taawoun will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Taawoun and Al-Hazem, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Taawoun hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nasser Al-Ahmadi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Hamoud Bassam has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Taawoun will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hamoud Bassam has his answer from Al-Taawoun; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Abderrazak Hamdallah 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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-Taawoun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Taawoun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abderrazak Hamdallah. 2‑1 against Al-Nassr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Nasser Al-Ahmadi could afford to be generous.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Taawoun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Taawoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Taawoun has been clear about where Muteb Al-Mufarrij stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Al-Taawoun will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Al-Nassr next, and one man in the Al-Taawoun dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Taawoun and Al-Ra'ed, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ali Lajami and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I did not go to Al-Jeel to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Taawoun and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al-Ahmadi to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Taawoun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Al-Ra'ed next, and one man in the Al-Taawoun dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Al-Taawoun have a player doing his work under protest.
A mark of 7.83 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Bahusayn will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Taawoun the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marin Petkov 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.64, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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-Taawoun, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Al-Taawoun asked and Damac said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.