If Diego Maradona’s first spell in charge of Al Wasl was anything to go by, he will be great for quick exposure and initially boosting the morale of his players at Fujairah, but that fame and passion isn’t necessarily enough.
It certainly wasn’t for Al Wasl — they finished a lowly eighth in the 14-team Arabian Gulf League under the Argentine during the 2011/12 season, and lost the GCC Champions League final on penalties despite being 3-1 up after the first leg away to Bahrain’s Al Muharraq.
The fact he has taken a drop down to the UAE’s second tier five years on from his last coaching stint with Al Wasl shows he’s eager to learn; and with a club like Fujairah, who were relegated from the top flight last season and just missed out on a return this year, he may stand more chance of success.
However, if he is to learn anything from his Al Wasl stint, it is that his touchline theatrics alone will get him nowhere, there actually needs to be some substance to it as well.
For that he needs to get quality players and experienced assistants in to help him, something Al Wasl didn’t have the funds to back him in 2011 after allocating them all on the coach.
While no one’s suggesting his experience from an illustrious playing career counts for nothing, he does lack a track record in coaching and no one alone holds a magic wand in football management.
Nowhere was this air of superficiality more evident than when he was coach of Argentina for two years from 2008, when they crashed out of the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals 4-0 to Germany, despite being heavily tipped by some.
Fujairah need to work out whether Maradona will be used as a quick marketing ploy or a serious coaching tool to get them back into the top flight, but to be both he will need support.
There seems to be an attitude that if you get a big enough name in you will be assured of silverware, and that was the issue he faced last time, but in fact this has never worked without the right foundations being in place as well.
Otherwise, his joining of Fujairah is great news for UAE football and in particular the second tier, which has traditionally been overlooked by the media leading to some clubs going out of business.
Both parties will equally need this to work as well, Maradona for the sake of his stalled managerial career and UAE football for its ability to attract a crowd for clubs to become self-sufficient. If everything comes together it could potentially be a masterstroke, but Fujairah will need to look closely at the Al Wasl case-study to be sure they enable him to succeed and are left in a better position than when he joined, because after all the initial fanfare neither were left with much.
