A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Military Production this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tahah 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.
Half the programme played, position 18, 4 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tahah’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Military Production needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutShaker Ashraf asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, 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 Military Production 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 Shaker Ashraf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 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.” Abdallah Trezeguet, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
El Masry next, and one man in the Military Production dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutShaker Ashraf knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Military Production will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑3 to Al Gaish, 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.
Mohamed Tarek 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. Tahah 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 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 0‑3 Abdallah Trezeguet left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Military Production may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Noble Rumsey 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.
He is 21 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.
Mohamed Ayman 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.
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tahah 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. Noble Rumsey 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
13 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Military Production will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Military Production and El Dakhleya, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Mohamed Tarek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tahah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mohamed Sosta 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.
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Military Production will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 18 and 0 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Military Production can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tahah 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Abdallah Trezeguet left the room before anybody could ask which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdallah Trezeguet after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Military Production will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
Everybody at Military Production saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 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.
Tahah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Trezeguet to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noble Rumsey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Arab Contractors next, and one man in the Military Production dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Military Production will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Khaled El Akhmimi and Military Production agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Military Production and ENPPI, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tahah 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Trezeguet to a room that had heard them before.
Mohamed Ayman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Military Production has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production 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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noble Rumsey 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tahah’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Military Production needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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 dugout14 Sep 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 1‑2 Abdallah Trezeguet left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohamed Abdelmaguid’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Military Production needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Military Production have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
That is the business done at Military Production 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.
Military Production 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.
Tahah 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.
Haras El Hodoud 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.
Military Production have made the call to Ittihad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noble Rumsey 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 used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ahmed Abdelaziz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Military Production needing him to play as if none of it matters.
0‑4 against Wadi Degla, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Military Production 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production 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.” Abdallah Trezeguet after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
The offer from Masr El Makasa for Mohamed Hegazi 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 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.
Military Production had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Ahly, 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. Ismaily have kept their man, and Military Production go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Trezeguet to a room that had heard them before.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zamalek keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The name of Mohamed Hegazi has come up in conversations Military Production were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Tahah 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Abdallah Trezeguet to a room that had heard them before.
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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Ahly keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Military Production asked and Liberty Professionals said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ramadan Fathy 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Hamdi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ibrahim Soliman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Shikabala Elneny 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Walid Tawfik and Military Production agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Military Production 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.