2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Emirates Club the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Baniyas will enjoy reviewing.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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 Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baniyas told Mahamadou Camara something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmed Al Bloushi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baniyas told Fawaz Awana something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
0‑3 to Al Jazira, 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassin Hidraoui-Akachar did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Lima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Fabio Lima 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Baniyas, another week without a signature from Alassane Diallo.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baniyas told Khamis Saleh something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Al Jazira next, and one man in the Baniyas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Baniyas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Baniyas the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Hamdan Suqrat on the training pitch
Fawaz Awana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Hamdan Suqrat is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Baniyas will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, 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. Mamadou Ndiaye is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.74 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ahmed Al Bloushi to a room that had heard them before.
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Baniyas have a player doing his work under protest.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 7.36, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmed Al Bloushi after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.49 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Khalfan Al Menhali was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Khamis Al-Mansoori has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 Baniyas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSaviour Godwin has become a man the manager trusts
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Saviour Godwin
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
255 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Baniyas know exactly what they have.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Baniyas 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.
Khalfan Al Menhali and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Fabio Lima 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sharjah have kept their man, and Baniyas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Majed Al Hammadi 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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Al Shabab 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.
Hasan Al-Muharrami 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamadou Camara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Baniyas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutJacob Awoute knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jacob Awoute 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 Baniyas 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.
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.
9 appearances at Inter de Limeira and the goals have stopped going in. Baniyas lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Mohammed Al-Yami arrives from Al-Shabab with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Baniyas would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutMamadou Ndiaye asks for a word with the manager
Everything agreed with Al-Shabab, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Khalfan Al Menhali and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahli have kept their man, and Baniyas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baniyas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Omar Abdulrahman has written the date down.
$250.0K on the table at Al Jazira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Add another name to the list: Al Dhafra have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Khalfan Mubarak. The answer from Baniyas has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Bernard Faye has moved up 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 Baniyas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Omar Abdulrahman has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khamis Al-Mansoori trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Baniyas and Al Nasr have settled on $43.0K. 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.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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 Saviour Godwin 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 Baniyas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Baniyas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Nasr, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The fee is $320.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Ain drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Baniyas asked and Al Ahli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baniyas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Baniyas have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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.
Baniyas asked and Al Shaab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 20, and nobody at Baniyas signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad5 Jul 2027
6 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Abdulrahman, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Awad Alla is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mackenzie Hunt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Baniyas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Baniyas will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The enquiry everybody at Baniyas was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
Nobody at Baniyas 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 Abdulrahman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Nasr is saying, and nobody at Baniyas is enjoying the guessing.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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 name of Ahmed Fawzi has come up in conversations Baniyas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Awad Alla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Baniyas would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Awad Alla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baniyas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baniyas know it.
Market31 May 2027
Jacob Awoute returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Nobody at Baniyas 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 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 Mackenzie Hunt has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Awad Alla 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 Saviour Godwin 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 Khamis Saleh has written the date down.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Facundo Insfrán has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Baniyas had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Awad Alla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutMackenzie Hunt asks for a word with the manager
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baniyas, 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 Baniyas 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.
“I watch every Baniyas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Shaab runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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 Awad Alla 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 Saviour Godwin is on it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hasan Al-Muharrami trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Something was said to Khalfan Al Menhali 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Omar Abdulrahman has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Facundo Insfrán 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamadou Camara 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 Fawaz Awana has written the date down.
Facundo Insfrán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Baniyas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Baniyas, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Amer Ismail is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Facundo Insfrán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 Saviour Godwin is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Insfrán 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 Khamis Saleh has written the date down.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Baniyas and Al Wasl, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Baniyas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Awad Alla 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 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ahmed Al Bloushi to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Mansour Saleh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Hasan Al-Muharrami, marked 7.24, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baniyas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Baniyas, another week without a signature from Omar Abdulrahman.
135 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baniyas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Khalfan Al Menhali and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
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 1‑1 draw with Al Ain leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ahmed Al Bloushi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Baniyas dressing room was either.
4‑1, and Munas Dabbur took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Baniyas tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A brace, and Munas Dabbur takes the afternoon — 8.91
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Munas Dabbur provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Richard Akonnor, marked 7.67, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dibba spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Awad Alla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.79. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Facundo Insfrán 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Baniyas and Al Wahda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 3‑4 Ahmed Al Bloushi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Fawaz Awana and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omar Abdulrahman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Facundo Insfrán 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 Mohamed Awad Alla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Omar Abdulrahman.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ahmed Al Bloushi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Baniyas dressing room was either.
Nobody at Baniyas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.48 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Khalfan Al Menhali and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Abdulrahman, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Saviour Godwin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baniyas know it.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saviour Godwin provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. João Victor has agreed terms with Al Wasl for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fawaz Awana 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Fahad Al-Dhanhani knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The fee is $6.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Shabab drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Khalfan Al Menhali was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $6.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shabab have kept their man, and Baniyas 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 Mohamed Awad Alla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al Shabab have accepted the money. What Baniyas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Baniyas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Baniyas asked and Al Jazira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Baniyas will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The offer from Al Jazira for João Victor was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Ahmed Fawzi has come up in conversations Baniyas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ain have kept their man, and Baniyas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fawaz Awana 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Ahmed Al Bloushi, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Out, 1‑4 to Al Jazira, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
Baniyas are taken apart by Al Jazira — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Marked 7.90. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Position 10, 11 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmed Al Bloushi after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Something was said to Mohamed Awad Alla and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Wasl in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 18 actions, 6.69, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Fawaz Awana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adel Abubaker Fadaq commits to Baniyas for another 1 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ahmed Al Bloushi left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mohamed Awad Alla is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fawaz Awana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baniyas know it.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baniyas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Dibba will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Baniyas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Lionel Verde takes the afternoon — 8.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lionel Verde provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baniyas and Dibba in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 5‑1, Ahmed Al Bloushi could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dibba next, and one man in the Baniyas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Baniyas 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 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 Omar Abdulrahman has written the date down.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmed Al Bloushi after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Baniyas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 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. 7.80 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baniyas and Emirates Club in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Fawaz Awana 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.
Marked 8.38 — 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.
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ahmed Al Bloushi kept it short after the 5‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmed Al Bloushi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Baniyas was different afterwards.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Baniyas scored in the 97th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Everybody at Baniyas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
Looking aheadBaniyas take on the side everybody is chasing
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Richard Akonnor is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Fawaz Awana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Fawzi, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Fawaz Awana's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Richard Akonnor’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Baniyas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Richard Akonnor 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: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Lionel Verde is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Baniyas will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Saviour Godwin is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
6 goals in one match, Munas Dabbur on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Baniyas and Al Shaab.
Mahamadou Camara 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Baniyas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Fawaz Awana
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.
Beaten 4 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Munas Dabbur 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lionel Verde. 4‑3 against Al Dhafra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baniyas and Al Dhafra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lionel Verde has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ahmed Al Bloushi on a 4‑3 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Lionel Verde, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Baniyas will try again when the window opens; Al Ahli may not be selling by then.
The name of Bernard Faye has come up in conversations Baniyas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Fawaz Awana'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.
Jacob Awoute was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“There 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Baniyas 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.
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.
Richard Akonnor 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hassan Juma is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al Dhafra will make the call about Ahmed Fawzi this week. Baniyas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Nasr have kept their man, and Baniyas go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ahmed Fawzi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Baniyas asked and Dibba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fawaz Awana 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Baniyas would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dibba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Al Fujairah for Ahmed Fawzi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Al Jazira, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Mahamadou Camara 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmed Mabkhout has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmed Obaid 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baniyas know it.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
14 seasons and 232 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Baniyas know it, and so does everybody who watches him.