As Caio Canedo fired in the humilating final goal during February’s 4-0 home routing by Al Wasl, a torrent of deafening abuse rained down at Cosmin Olaroiu from the rebellious Rashid Stadium-stands.
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There seemed no way he would survive another day in the Al Ahli hot seat. Yet fast forward to this Saturday and the Romanian was pictured putting pen to paper on a lucrative two-year contract extension until 2018.
Compare his standing with Eric Gerets at Al Jazira, and you see a pair of coaches boasting high achievements in the Arabian Gulf. But while Olaroiu has been boosted by this weekend’s show of faith, the Belgian’s representatives are negotiating his exit from Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium after one season as fabled successor Abel Braga awaits his return.
This contrasting treatment speaks volumes about the side’s approaches.
CONFIRMED: Cosmin Olaroiu stays on as @AlAhliClub manager for another 3 years. #الاهلي #دبي #AlahliUAE pic.twitter.com/3odlbDWlO5
— Ahdaaf (@ahdaafme) June 14, 2015
The Pride of Abu Dhabi seem always to be chasing the latest trend, never scared to throw cash in pursuit of silverware. Brazil playmaker Thiago Neves has already been brought in this month, while Roma winger Gervinho’s transfer will imminently be completed.
Braga’s re-appointment has not come cheap, a three-year contract worth €15 million (Dh62.1m) ready to be signed off to make him the seventh supremo in four years since his 2011 exit.
But Ahli – first under Spaniard Quique Sanchez Flores from 2011- 13 – have learned stability can have much greater value.
At the height of their winter of discontent, it can now be revealed approaches from third-parties to both then Ivory Coast boss Herve Renard – now at Lille – and ex-Argentina supremo Alejandro Sabella were made as the Red Knights considered the veryreal possibility of regime change.
Olaroiu had also previously been made aware Saudi Arabia desired a more permanent relationship than the one-month loan deal signed for the Asian Cup, though January’s disappointing group-stage exit curtailed this.
Club suitors from the Kingdom remained in plentiful supply however, regularly linked in the media with an Al Hilal homecoming or the berths at Al Ittihad and Al Shabab Riyadh.
Yet Ahli rightly held back at the time from any denouement despite witnessing a dismal Arabian Gulf League title defence and this trust in the Middle East’s pre-eminent coach has been rewarded.
This unmatched ability to draw out unprecedented achievement was on show in the 2015 AFC Champions League, a club-first berth in the quarter-finals approaching.
There is no better man to be in charge, Olaroiu also hoovering up trophies at Hilal, Qatar’s Al Sadd and UAE rivals Al Ain. This is why the Boss kicked up such a fuss in July 2013 when he defected to Dubai, involving rescinded six-month bans and suspended jail sentences.
It would have been the height of impatience and disloyalty to part company with Olaroiu, despite last term’s seventh-placed finish.
The 46-year-old and Ahli can be a winning ticket again, evoking memories of his 2013/14 debut which brought the AGL, Arabian Gulf Cup and Arabian Gulf Super Cup. A high-profile and dominant centre forward will be bought this summer, correcting a chronic lack of goals.
Jazira’s latest no-expense-spared shake up might stop Olaroiu’s domestic redemption. But Ahli’s measured approach brings a muchhigher probability of glory.
