From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Dec 2029
Nowhere to hide for Ohod
0‑3 against Al-Hazem, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ohod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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 dugout10 Dec 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A season average of 7.20 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Inquest at Ohod
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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Moayed Al-Karneeb and Ohod agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aseel Al-Sharif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces3 Dec 2029
Supporters organise against the Ohod board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market3 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Dec 2029
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 dugout3 Dec 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hussain Habkor commits to Ohod for another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Ibrahim Al-Salem is the month’s best young player
At 17 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Ohod will try not to make too much of it.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
Wages eat 94% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match1 Dec 2029
Honours even between Ohod and Najran
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Nov 2029
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Talal Al-Shehri, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout26 Nov 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ohod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Nov 2029
He is 18 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saud Al-Tumbukti. 2‑0 against Al-Batin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ohod told Azzam Al-Bishi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Nov 2029
Ohod taken apart
0‑3 to Damac, 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nasser Al-Dawsari, and the manager let it.
Match19 Nov 2029
Halfway: Ohod sit in position 8
19 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
Nobody left the Ohod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Aseel Al-Sharif falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
No sign of nerves from Ibrahim Al-Salem at 17 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ibrahim Al-Salem did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces12 Nov 2029
At 17 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.
Match10 Nov 2029
Al-Njoom made Ohod work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Nov 2029
11 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ohod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces5 Nov 2029
Anger at Ohod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market5 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Ibrahim Al-Salem, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match3 Nov 2029
Azzam Al-Bishi among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Azzam Al-Bishi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ohod and Al-Wehda.
Squad5 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Nov 2029
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Al-Wehda
2‑4 to Al-Wehda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari, and the manager let it.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match27 Oct 2029
It needed Azzam Al-Bishi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Al-Shoulla, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aseel Al-Sharif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead29 Oct 2029
Ohod take on the side everybody is chasing
Al-Wehda arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Al-Ta'ee
0‑1 to Al-Ta'ee, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Ibrahim Al-Salem is the weekend's best young player
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Keagan Zungu
“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 Oct 2029
Keagan Zungu is still paying for one afternoon at Ohod
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.
Looking ahead22 Oct 2029
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al-Shoulla in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Marked 7.79 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Oct 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood. 2‑1 against Al-Orobah, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces15 Oct 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Al-Salem 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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Azzam Al-Bishi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Tolba Mohamed gets picked when it counts
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 Tolba Mohamed is on it.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Ahmadi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulkarim Sultan
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
Supporters organise against the Ohod board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match6 Oct 2029
Al-Fayha punish Ohod for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Azzam Al-Bishi will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Ohod escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Market8 Oct 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market8 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tolba Mohamed commits to Ohod for another 2 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Marked 8.63. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ohod.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulkarim Sultan
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. 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 dugout1 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Ninety minutes of Azzam Al-Bishi at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ohod.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Fraser, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Oct 2029
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ibrahim Al-Salem is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2029
Abdulkarim Sultan damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
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.
Match22 Sep 2029
Ohod throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al-Mojzel the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ohod will enjoy reviewing.
Squad24 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market24 Sep 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ohod, another week without a signature from Saud Al-Tumbukti.
Match22 Sep 2029
A 2‑2 draw with Al-Mojzel leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Keagan Zungu 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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Keagan Zungu gets it from the manager
“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 dugout24 Sep 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Sep 2029
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.
Match12 Sep 2029
Ohod out of the cup
Al-Shabab ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.34, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
A goal and an assist for Tolba Mohamed — 7.91
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.91 beside his name.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood. 3‑2 against Al-Jeel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match15 Sep 2029
At last: Ohod win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Al-Jeel. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Marked 8.54 — 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Saeid Taremi commits to Ohod for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Sep 2029
Anger at Ohod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oliver Fraser
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market10 Sep 2029
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Njoom moved on, Saud Al-Tumbukti reports back to Ohod, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oliver Fraser is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match8 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Match8 Sep 2029
Ohod cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 Sep 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
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Transfer targets
Morato stays at Al-Wehda as time runs out
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Squad
Keagan Zungu wants to go home
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Sep 2029
Oliver Fraser damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
$41.0K settles it between the clubs for Morato
Al-Wehda have accepted the money. What Ohod do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Ohod 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tolba Mohamed has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Match1 Sep 2029
The goals have deserted Ohod
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ohod can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Ohod asked and Al-Ittihad 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 dugout3 Sep 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Aug 2029
Oliver Fraser damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Market27 Aug 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ohod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad27 Aug 2029
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad27 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shoulla have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces27 Aug 2029
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hussain Habkor, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keagan Zungu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2029
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market20 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saud Al-Tumbukti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
The name of Marwan Touri has come up in conversations Ohod were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saeed Al-Ghamdi and Ohod agree another 3 years.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
Keagan Zungu is still paying for one afternoon at Ohod
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.
Match18 Aug 2029
Ohod and Najran cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Najran came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Off the academy pitches and into a senior shirt, at 15. The parents in the stand will keep the programme, and so will he.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 Aug 2029
The mood at Ohod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oliver Fraser
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 Aug 2029
No mercy from Ohod
Al-Batin will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ohod were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market13 Aug 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Aug 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
$370.0K settles it between the clubs for Suleiman Abdullahi
Al-Khaleej have accepted the money. What Ohod do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2029
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The Ohod board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market6 Aug 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Saud Al-Tumbukti has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market6 Aug 2029
Add another name to the list: Al-Fayha have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Saud Al-Tumbukti. The answer from Ohod has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Shoulla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ohod is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market30 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Al-Shamrani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Al-Khaleej, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad30 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“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 dugout30 Jul 2029
David Idaiye knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Idaiye trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Ohod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Khaleej, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
David Idaiye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Nader Al-Muwallad 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
A loan move for Waleed Al-Salem is in the works
Ohod have made the call to Al-Hilal. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
David Idaiye asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Jul 2029
The mood at Ohod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ohod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market16 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ohod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
$380.0K on the table at Al-Khaleej. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shoulla have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 132 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ohod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Jul 2029
Ohod say no — this time
The offer from Al-Khaleej for David Idaiye 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.
Market9 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Jul 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ohod, another week without a signature from David Idaiye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 139 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The Ohod board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ohod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market2 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces2 Jul 2029
Ohod sell a favourite for $750.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Bassem Al-Arini was one of the reasons people came, and $750.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market2 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about David Idaiye again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Khaleej. Ohod are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
$160.0K on the table at Al-Shoulla. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market2 Jul 2029
Bassem Al-Arini has left for Al-Taawoun in a $750.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ohod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market25 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Al-Shamrani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Khaleej is saying, and nobody at Ohod is enjoying the guessing.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shabab have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
David Idaiye 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Al-Ittihad: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market25 Jun 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ohod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Anger at Ohod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad18 Jun 2029
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
Pressure builds in the Ohod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market18 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Njoom waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ohod is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jun 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ohod have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market18 Jun 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Azzam Al-Bishi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jun 2029
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Shoulla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ohod is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for David Idaiye
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Idaiye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market11 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ittihad have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nader Al-Muwallad 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aseel Al-Sharif and Ohod agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hussain Habkor
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Emergency meeting at Ohod
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market4 Jun 2029
Al-Shabab come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ohod did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Jun 2029
Marwan Touri hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Jun 2029
David Idaiye 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
Al-Ittihad 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2029
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 May 2029
David Idaiye 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.
Squad28 May 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamad Al-Shehri and Ohod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hussain Habkor
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces21 May 2029
Anger at Ohod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom21 May 2029
Pressure builds in the Ohod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market21 May 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 May 2029
Muayad Al-Karnib: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ohod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nader Al-Muwallad 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 dugout21 May 2029
Hussain Habkor knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hussain Habkor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market14 May 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout14 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
David Idaiye 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.
Boardroom14 May 2029
102% of the income goes out in wages at Ohod
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.
Market14 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tolba Mohamed’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 May 2029
The clock does Saud Al-Tumbukti’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ohod could ask drops and the wages Saud Al-Tumbukti can ask rise.
The dugout14 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hamad Al-Shehri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ohod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout7 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hussain Habkor and Ohod agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 May 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ohod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout7 May 2029
Keagan Zungu is still paying for one afternoon at Ohod
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.
Market7 May 2029
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ohod could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market30 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
David Idaiye 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Nader Al-Muwallad 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“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.
Market30 Apr 2029
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ohod could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Ohod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ohod is running low.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
The mood at Ohod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market23 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market23 Apr 2029
Marwan Touri has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market23 Apr 2029
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ohod could get for him.
Market23 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bassem Al-Arini signs something — a contract at Ohod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for David Idaiye
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Idaiye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market16 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Wages swallow 116% of the Ohod income
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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tolba Mohamed’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
David Idaiye 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
David Idaiye asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aseel Al-Sharif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Keagan Zungu'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market2 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Al-Shamrani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
Ohod and David Idaiye are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market2 Apr 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ohod.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager's exit leaves Meshal Sibyani exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Meshal Sibyani is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Salem Al-Nemer slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Salem Al-Nemer is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ohod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces26 Mar 2029
Anger at Ohod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market26 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market26 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nader Al-Muwallad, and the manager let it.
Market26 Mar 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bassem Al-Arini signs something — a contract at Ohod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Mar 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ohod money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Mar 2029
David Idaiye has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market19 Mar 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Wages eat 137% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aseel Al-Sharif 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 dugout19 Mar 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 Mar 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tolba Mohamed’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market19 Mar 2029
Ohod have made Bassem Al-Arini available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“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 Ohod will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ohod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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.
Market12 Mar 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Keagan Zungu is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market12 Mar 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ohod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Mar 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ohod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match5 Mar 2029
Full time on the season at Ohod
Position 13 on 24 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Mar 2029
5 matches without a win for Ohod
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ohod are no longer polite ones.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Marwan Touri: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ohod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammed Slimani and Ohod agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
David Idaiye beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Feb 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ohod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces26 Feb 2029
The mood at Ohod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Pressure builds in the Ohod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market26 Feb 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match24 Feb 2029
4 matches without a win for Ohod
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ohod are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
David Idaiye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Feb 2029
Late, late show earns Ohod a point
Minute 90, against Al-Mojzel, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Feb 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Feb 2029
A 2-goal lead gone for Ohod
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al-Jeel kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ohod will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
David Idaiye beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market19 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market19 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. David Idaiye has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Wages swallow 137% of the Ohod income
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Saud Al-Tumbukti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Feb 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market12 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Feb 2029
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Al-Diriyah
0‑1 to Al-Diriyah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muayad Al-Karnib, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Feb 2029
Ohod taken apart
0‑4 to Hajer, 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ohod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Window shuts: 1 in, 3 out at Ohod
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi 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.
Market5 Feb 2029
The name of Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood has come up in conversations Ohod were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Feb 2029
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Jan 2029
Anger at Ohod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market29 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Njoom waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ohod is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Ohod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ohod is running low.
Squad29 Jan 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market29 Jan 2029
Ohod say no — this time
The offer from Al-Saudi Al-Watani for Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Jan 2029
The drought breaks for Ohod
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Al-Orobah were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market22 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Jan 2029
Al-Orobah made Ohod work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ohod have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 133% of the Ohod income
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Hussain Habkor left out for the big one
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ohod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ohod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Ohod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Riyadh, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Match13 Jan 2029
The goals have deserted Ohod
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ohod can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Ohod asked and Al-Batin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match8 Jan 2029
Ohod are in real trouble now
Position 14, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market8 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Ohod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ettifaq, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market8 Jan 2029
The phone has started ringing about Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Orobah. Ohod are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Dec 2028
14 matches without a win for Ohod
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Ohod are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces1 Jan 2029
Supporters organise against the Ohod board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Ohod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ohod is running low.
Squad1 Jan 2029
David Idaiye 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Looking ahead1 Jan 2029
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Ohod know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Dec 2028
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match23 Dec 2028
Ohod are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
Wages eat 137% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ohod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Dec 2028
Nowhere to hide for Ohod
0‑3 against Al-Shoulla, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
Inquest at Ohod
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 dugout18 Dec 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Dec 2028
Ohod sink to position 14
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market11 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Up for the corner, and Meshal Sibyani delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Meshal Sibyani scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marked 7.83. 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
David Idaiye 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.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marked 8.15 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match2 Dec 2028
The wait goes on for Ohod
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
The mood at Ohod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
David Idaiye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Dec 2028
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Al-Hazem
1‑3 to Al-Hazem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood and Ohod agree another 3 years.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Al-Shamrani, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match25 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Market27 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad27 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match25 Nov 2028
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Najran
0‑1 to Najran, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Wages eat 134% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Nov 2028
8 matches without a win for Ohod
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Ohod are no longer polite ones.
Market20 Nov 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Match18 Nov 2028
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Al-Batin
0‑1 to Al-Batin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Nov 2028
Halfway: Ohod sit in position 14
11 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Talal Al-Shehri and Ohod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2028
Ohod sink to position 14
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market13 Nov 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Nov 2028
7 matches without a win for Ohod
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ohod are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
David Idaiye 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Al-Mojzel
1‑2 to Al-Mojzel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nader Al-Muwallad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nader Al-Muwallad, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Market6 Nov 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Hussain Habkor slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hussain Habkor is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market6 Nov 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ohod, another week without a signature from David Idaiye.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“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; Ohod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
In brief
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Match
Honours even between Ohod and Al-Jeel
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
David Idaiye knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Oct 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match28 Oct 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Al-Diriyah left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
112% of the income goes out in wages at Ohod
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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saeid Taremi and Ohod agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Oct 2028
4 matches without a win for Ohod
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ohod are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
A bad afternoon for Ohod against Hajer
0‑2 to Hajer, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nader Al-Muwallad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“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.
Looking ahead23 Oct 2028
Al-Diriyah next, and one man in the Ohod dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nader Al-Muwallad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hussain Habkor, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Oct 2028
Ohod and Al-Ta'ee take a point apiece
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 dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Ohod dressing room was either.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
The leaders are next for Ohod
Hajer top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Market16 Oct 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Abdullah Al-Salem has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ohod.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Hajer next, and one man in the Ohod dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hussain Habkor and Ohod agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Oct 2028
Al-Orobah left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Oct 2028
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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Oct 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Oct 2028
David Idaiye in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nader Al-Muwallad 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
Wages eat 100% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omar Al-Ahmadi and Ohod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Sep 2028
A 2‑1 win over Al-Saudi Al-Watani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market25 Sep 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ahmed Al-Dosari is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Sep 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Talal Al-Khaibari 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.
Market25 Sep 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rashid Al-Ghamdi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Sep 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Waleed Al-Dawsari is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Sep 2028
Ohod bow out of the cup
Al-Fateh go through and Ohod go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match16 Sep 2028
At last: Ohod win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Al-Njoom. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi 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.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Njoom have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Ohod get the job done against Al-Njoom
A 2‑1 win over Al-Njoom, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces18 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Saud Al-Tumbukti 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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Ohod will try again when the window opens; Al-Wehda may not be selling by then.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nader Al-Muwallad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Sep 2028
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
No place for Hussain Habkor in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ohod are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Match2 Sep 2028
Ohod throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al-Shoulla the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ohod will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Ohod
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
$680.0K settles it between the clubs for Saif Al-Omari
Al-Wehda have accepted the money. What Ohod do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Ohod 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Ohod asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match26 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ohod has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Saad Al-Enezi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saad Al-Enezi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match26 Aug 2028
Al-Nahda left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Ohod have made the call to Al-Riyadh. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammed Slimani
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Aug 2028
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match19 Aug 2028
Ohod taken apart
0‑3 to Al-Hazem, 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.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Ohod and Al-Diriyah have settled on $20.0K. 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.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
The deal with Al-Wehda 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Ohod
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.
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saud Al-Tumbukti is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Bandar Al-Dawsari clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad14 Aug 2028
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Ohod have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Market14 Aug 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ohod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Al-Nahda; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ohod have done the hard part with Najran, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Diriyah keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
In brief
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Match
No end in sight to Ohod's wait for a win
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Squad
Meshal Sibyani has improved at 27, which nobody expected
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Boardroom
2 academy graduates step up at Ohod
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammed Slimani
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ohod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Hilal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Al-Hilal, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
$76.0K on the table at Al-Riyadh. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Ohod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Nahda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market31 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
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Squad31 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammed Slimani
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Ohod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ohod is running low.
Market24 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Jul 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jul 2028
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
No thanks: Ali Al-Jassem rejects the move
Ohod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ta'ee, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 23 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Ohod have gone to Al-Nahda 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Azzam Al-Bishi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Diriyah is saying, and nobody at Ohod is enjoying the guessing.
Market17 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Saad Al-Enezi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saad Al-Enezi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 27 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.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Ohod asked and Al-Hilal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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 dugout17 Jul 2028
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ohod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Hilal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
David Idaiye has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Ohod asked and Al-Ra'ed 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 dugout10 Jul 2028
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Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan move for Ali Al-Jassem is in the works
Ohod have made the call to Al-Ta'ee. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Bandar Al-Dawsari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ohod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Jul 2028
Ohod say no — this time
The offer from Al-Saudi Al-Watani for Romeo Mfeng Nanga 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Nahda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
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Market3 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ohod have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Saudi Al-Watani have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Ohod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Ohod and Al-Nahda have settled on $110.0K. 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad26 Jun 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Baurzhan Beysebekov is living that version at Ohod, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Ohod offered $13.0K; Al-Fayha 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Al-Taawoun pay $150.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Ékené Awazie
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ékené Awazie will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ohod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Ékené Awazie and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ékené Awazie in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
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Market12 Jun 2028
The clock does Ékené Awazie’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ohod could ask drops and the wages Ékené Awazie can ask rise.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Al-Otaibi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ohod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market12 Jun 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jun 2028
Al-Wehda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ohod did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
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Squad5 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Ékené Awazie 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
Omar Al-Ahmadi is 18, and Ohod have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Aseel Al-Sharif has his answer from Ohod; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ohod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tolba Mohamed 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.
Market29 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ohod, another week without a signature from Muayad Al-Karnib.
The dugout29 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ohod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Ékené Awazie
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ékené Awazie will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
David Idaiye 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
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Squad22 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdullah Al-Salem commits to Ohod for another 3 years.
Market22 May 2028
Evgeni Ponomarev is 18, and Ohod have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Wages swallow 86% of the Ohod income
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
A fracture rules Ahmed Al-Mutairi out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ohod they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Idaiye 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 dugout15 May 2028
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout8 May 2028
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Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammed Al-Qarni and Ohod agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad8 May 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Al-Shamrani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ohod, another week without a signature from Hassan Al-Shamrani.
The dugout8 May 2028
Ékené Awazie knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ékené Awazie trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market8 May 2028
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ohod could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ohod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Ohod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout1 May 2028
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Squad1 May 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market1 May 2028
Ohod and Ékené Awazie are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad1 May 2028
Saud Al-Tumbukti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ohod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Ékené Awazie and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
David Idaiye 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Wages eat 125% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Ékené Awazie in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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Squad17 Apr 2028
“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; Ohod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market17 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bassem Al-Arini signs something — a contract at Ohod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clock does Mohammed Al-Otaibi’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ohod could ask drops and the wages Mohammed Al-Otaibi can ask rise.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saud Al-Tumbukti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
David Idaiye 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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.
Market10 Apr 2028
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ohod could get for him.
Market10 Apr 2028
The name of Tolba Mohamed keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ohod say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ohod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Ohod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ohod is running low.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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Market3 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
David Idaiye 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hassan Al-Shamrani is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market3 Apr 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Ékené Awazie
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ékené Awazie will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market27 Mar 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Wages swallow 146% of the Ohod income
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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohammed Al-Otaibi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ohod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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The dugout20 Mar 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ohod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bassem Al-Arini signs something — a contract at Ohod or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Mar 2028
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ohod could get for him.
Market20 Mar 2028
Ohod have let the market know Mohammed Al-Otaibi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Ékené Awazie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
David Idaiye 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market13 Mar 2028
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ohod money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Mar 2028
The season ends: position 9 for Ohod
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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The dugout6 Mar 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ohod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Ékené Awazie 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tolba Mohamed commits to Ohod for another 3 years.
Market6 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for David Idaiye
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Idaiye has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ohod have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match4 Mar 2028
Ohod share the spoils with Damac
A 1‑1 draw with Damac leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
Hassan Al-Shamrani damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ohod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Ékené Awazie has agreed to leave Ohod for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Ékené Awazie and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
David Idaiye 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.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Wages eat 157% of everything Ohod earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
Hassan Al-Shamrani damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market21 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ohod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
David Idaiye 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Al-Wehda left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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The dugout21 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Feb 2028
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Feb 2028
4‑0, and Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ohod tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market14 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A brace, and David Idaiye takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Idaiye provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ohod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Bandar Al-Dawsari on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Feb 2028
Hassan Al-Shamrani damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Al-Ta'ee punish Ohod for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Azzam Al-Bishi will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Ohod escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
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Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Ohod 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
David Idaiye falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ohod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ohod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
David Idaiye 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.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Wages swallow 145% of the Ohod income
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.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sattam Al-Shammari 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.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
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The dugout31 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ohod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
Hassan Al-Shamrani damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Ohod win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Al-Fayha will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market24 Jan 2028
Ohod say no — this time
The offer from Hajer for Ékené Awazie 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
The match ball belongs to Azzam Al-Bishi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Ékené Awazie in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Jan 2028
Three points for Ohod, 3‑2 the final word against Al-Fayha in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Azzam Al-Bishi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.45. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ohod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Jan 2028
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
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Squad17 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Ohod
Ékené Awazie 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Idaiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Jan 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ahmed Al-Mutairi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Jan 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nasser Al-Dawsari 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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
The team sheet said everything about Mohammed Al-Otaibi
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 Mohammed Al-Otaibi.