It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Charles Bassey is on 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ghazl El Mahalla in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Arab Contractors would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Arab Contractors squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.13. 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 dugout18 Oct 2032
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.” Trezeguet Gabr, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Mohamed Zaalouk is on it.
Shots: 12. 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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Arab Contractors 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 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.
Military Production next, and one man in the Arab Contractors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Wadi Degla will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arab Contractors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Trezeguet Gabr on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Charles Bassey is on it.
Dodô 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 had been thinking. Charles Bassey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Wadi Degla next, and one man in the Arab Contractors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 goal that put Haras El Hodoud ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Arab Contractors equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Mohamed Fawzi'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.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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 easiest signature of my career.” Charles Bassey and Arab Contractors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Arab Contractors will try again when the window opens; Zamalek may not be selling by then.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Aswan spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arab Contractors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2032
$300.0K settles it between the clubs for Ahmed Fatouh
Zamalek have accepted the money. What Arab Contractors do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Arab Contractors close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 14 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Arab Contractors offered $5.0K; Al Gaish said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Arab Contractors asked and Lumezzane said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Ouled Behi is on it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Charles Bassey
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arab Contractors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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. Zamalek have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yussif Moro Owusu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hazem El Askry. 1‑0 against Police Union, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdallah Kahraba and Arab Contractors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Chornomorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arab Contractors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Arab Contractors, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
8 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The 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. Tirana have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Salah Soliman has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mostafa Mohsen 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Petrojet had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
$300.0K settles it between the clubs for Ahmed Fatouh
Zamalek have accepted the money. What Arab Contractors do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arab Contractors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Botev Plovdiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islam Gaber and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Arab Contractors offered $5.0K; Al Gaish said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arab Contractors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2032
$110.0K settles it between the clubs for Elisha Owusu
Zamalek have accepted the money. What Arab Contractors do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islam Gaber and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Botev Plovdiv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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. Lusitânia Lourosa have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Sporting CP. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Mohamed Zaalouk is on it.
The deal with Zamalek 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 Diosgyor is saying, and nobody at Arab Contractors is enjoying the guessing.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ahmed Ouled Behi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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 Mohamed Fawzi is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mohamed Refat has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Mohamed Fawzi
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arab Contractors can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Charles Bassey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arab Contractors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arab Contractors have done the hard part with Diosgyor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Arab Contractors offered $5.0K; Al Gaish said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Mahmoud Abou-Gouda’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arab Contractors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Braga is saying, and nobody at Arab Contractors is enjoying the guessing.
Arab Contractors asked and NK Varazdin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Diosgyor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Porto. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al Gaish waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arab Contractors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Benfica keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors 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 Gaish have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omar Tharwat and Arab Contractors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Braga. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Betis is saying, and nobody at Arab Contractors is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Koper have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey 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.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Al Gaish. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Benfica. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Mohamed Fawzi is on 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 Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$5.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Gaish were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catania have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Arab Contractors that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arab Contractors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arab Contractors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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 window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
“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 Arab Contractors will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mohamed Refat has written the date down.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 had been thinking. Charles Bassey 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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 had been thinking. Charles Bassey 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 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 Mohamed Fawzi is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMostafa Sobhi knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors 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 Hazem El Askry is on it.
Dodô 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 Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ouled Behi is on 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 Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Mohamed Zaalouk is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arab Contractors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Arab Contractors 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.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Fawzi asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdallah Kahraba and Arab Contractors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Arab Contractors will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omar Tharwat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arab Contractors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 46 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Arab Contractors 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arab Contractors and El Dakhleya in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arab Contractors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arab Contractors has to find a result from somewhere.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Arab Contractors and Al Ahly, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Arab Contractors dressing room in a hurry
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors 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 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.
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 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arab Contractors has to find a result from somewhere.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Fawzi and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Trezeguet Gabr after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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 words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Trezeguet Gabr after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arab Contractors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
Arab Contractors ran out of time with El Masry. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Arab Contractors will try again when the window opens; Ismaily may not be selling by then.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali El Mohamady and Arab Contractors agree another 3 years.
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 Ouled Behi is on it.
Arab Contractors ran out of time with Zamalek. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Arab Contractors and Ismaily have settled on $210.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The deal with Zamalek 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bassem Hegazi and Arab Contractors agree another 3 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 shaken hands with Smouha; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Arab Contractors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Arab Contractors have gone to El Masry with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
16 goals and a season average of 7.48. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
$5.0K settles it between the clubs for Mohamed Magdy
Al Gaish have accepted the money. What Arab Contractors do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hazem El Askry. 2‑1 against Ismaily, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Mohamed Zaalouk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.02. 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 ratings19 Jan 2032
Hazem El Askry was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
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.
Arab Contractors and Zamalek have settled on $1.0M. 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.
$170.0K on the table at ENPPI. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Arab Contractors asked and Al Gaish said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohamed Zaalouk. 2‑0 against Haras El Hodoud, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Mohamed Zaalouk 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors 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. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
Arab Contractors have made the call to El Masry. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohamed Zaalouk provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ahmed Ouled Behi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Salah Zayid and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
“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 Arab Contractors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ahmed Ouled Behi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.48, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Salah Zayid and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Dodô 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
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 Trezeguet Gabr to a room that had heard them before.
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 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey 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 dugout8 Dec 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Trezeguet Gabr kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arab Contractors and El Dakhleya in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mahmoud Abou-Gouda 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.
Haras El Hodoud are out and Arab Contractors go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at 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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 20 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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arab Contractors has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Tharwat 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 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 Ouled Behi is on 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.
1‑6 to Zamalek, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Zamalek; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Arab Contractors and Zamalek, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 easiest signature of my career.” David Idaiye and Arab Contractors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mohamed Zaalouk is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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 Arab Contractors 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
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.” Trezeguet Gabr chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against ENPPI? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Ghazl El Mahalla next, and one man in the Arab Contractors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Dodô 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.
Something was said to David Idaiye and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over Military Production, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.71, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
Hazem El Askry was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Tharwat 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.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arab Contractors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
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.
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Omar Tharwat falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arab Contractors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arab Contractors has to find a result from somewhere.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Trezeguet Gabr after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Smouha next, and one man in the Arab Contractors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arab Contractors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
“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 dugout22 Sep 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Trezeguet Gabr was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Arab Contractors dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ismaily? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Wadi Degla next, and one man in the Arab Contractors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arab Contractors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Arab Contractors asked and ENPPI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Hazem El Askry was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Haras El Hodoud scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Mohamed Fawzi is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arab Contractors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Arab Contractors asked and Zamalek 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Fouad and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Arab Contractors will try again when the window opens; Zamalek may not be selling by then.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Arab Contractors, another week without a signature from Ahmed Ouled Behi.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
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 Trezeguet Gabr to a room that had heard them before.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Arab Contractors 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arab Contractors have done the hard part with Zamalek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Masr El Makasa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Arab Contractors will try again when the window opens; Zamalek may not be selling by then.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and El Masry were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohamed Zaalouk provided it, and the 9.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 9.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Arab Contractors and Al Gaish, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdallah Kahraba and Arab Contractors agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey 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.
Masr El Makasa have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Police Union will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Arab Contractors and Zamalek have settled on $99.0K. 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.
The deal with Al Ahly is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ittihad; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Al Ahly 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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
Arab Contractors asked and Zamalek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arab Contractors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have shaken hands with ENPPI; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and El Masry were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Fawzi and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Mohamed Zaalouk is on it.
$170.0K was the most the club would pay and ENPPI were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Al Gaish. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Arab Contractors and Al Ahly have settled on $280.0K. 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.
Arab Contractors have gone to ENPPI with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mostafa Sobhi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Arab Contractors will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mostafa Sobhi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Idaiye has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arab Contractors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Arab Contractors and Al Ahly have settled on $1.3M. 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.
$250.0K on the table at El Masry. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
SquadWords at Arab Contractors training over how hard people work
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Ahly; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Ahmed Ouled Behi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
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 Mohamed Zaalouk is on it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ziad Mohamed is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arab Contractors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Shikabala Soliman and Arab Contractors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arab Contractors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shikabala Soliman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arab Contractors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arab Contractors have done the hard part with Zamalek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to El Masry this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Arab Contractors asked and Al Gaish said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Omar Tharwat and Arab Contractors agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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 shaken hands with Zamalek; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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. El Masry have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Omar El Wensh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ali Soliman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Shikabala Soliman 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. El Sayed Salah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zamalek; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Zamalek 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.
Arab Contractors have gone to El Masry with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Charles Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arab Contractors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ziad Mohamed is living that version at Arab Contractors, and it tends to show in the first month.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islam Gaber and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Bassey 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.
Arab Contractors have made the call to Polissia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
Dodô 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 Mohamed Hamed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Idaiye knocks on the manager's door
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 had been thinking. Chukwudi Ekeocha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 had been thinking. Chukwudi Ekeocha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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 manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Mohamed Zaalouk has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is 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 Arab Contractors 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chukwudi Ekeocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 had been thinking. Chukwudi Ekeocha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arab Contractors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nobody at Arab Contractors 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hamed is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arab Contractors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Something was said to Momen Awad and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Charles Bassey has written the date down.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arab Contractors has to find a result from somewhere.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Antar and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chukwudi Ekeocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
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 Trezeguet Gabr left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arab Contractors has to find a result from somewhere.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Trezeguet Gabr 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.
Shots: 10. 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.
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.
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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Trezeguet Gabr to a room that had heard them before.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mostafa Sobhi will call it something else in private.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hamed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Chukwudi Ekeocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arab Contractors.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
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 Trezeguet Gabr left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Mohamed Zaalouk on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Arab Contractors and Zamalek.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 3‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ahmed Ouled Behi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Mohamed Hamed falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Mohamed Zaalouk scored in the 87th minute, ENPPI had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Arab Contractors took the lot.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arab Contractors have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings24 Feb 2031
Mohamed Zaalouk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chukwudi Ekeocha 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 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.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Mohamed Zaalouk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Arab Contractors asked and Zamalek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8.09. 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.
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.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Arab Contractors until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmed Fouad and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years.
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 dugout3 Feb 2031
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 Trezeguet Gabr to a room that had heard them before.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arab Contractors have done the hard part with Zamalek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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 Chukwudi Ekeocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Mohamed Zaalouk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arab Contractors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Arab Contractors had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Masr El Makasa, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ahmed Ouled Behi 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.
Arab Contractors have made the call to MC Oran. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arab Contractors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zamalek; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Arab Contractors had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Petrolul, 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 Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zamalek have kept their man, and Arab Contractors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 1‑0 win over Haras El Hodoud, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ismaël Fansu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arab Contractors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Masr El Makasa 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.
Dodô was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Fawzi and Arab Contractors agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chukwudi Ekeocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Momen Awad 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 dugout30 Dec 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Trezeguet Gabr kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ahmed Ouled Behi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
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 Trezeguet Gabr 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Aswan next, and one man in the Arab Contractors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of 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 Arab Contractors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chukwudi Ekeocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ismaël Fansu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arab Contractors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Half the programme played, position 11, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Momen Awad 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.