JEDDAH, 17 February 2005 — The president of Al-Ittihad club, Mansour Al-Balawi, told members of the soccer team including the coaching staff to shape up or ship out.
Al-Balawi issued the warning after an apparently unconvincing performance in a 2-1 home victory over Ghazil Al-Mahalla of Egypt Monday in the Arab Champions League soccer tournament.
Hinting that nobody is indispensable, Balawi said it’s not only the coach, Belgian Loca, who is to be blamed for the poor run of results.
He said that any player who misses training or shows sloppy performance during club matches will be dealt with severely and this includes sacking from the team.
Al-Balawi said that his patience is running thin and that he will not tolerate any negligence by anyone on the team. He also denied the recent rumor that he would leave the team to become president of Al-Nasr club saying that he and Ittihad club are one and he will never be a manager of any club other than Ittihad.
Meantime, Al- Shabab beat Al Khaleej 4-0 and Taie downed Al-Ittifaq 4-3 in a pair of Crown Prince Cup soccer matches yesterday.
The wins gave Shabab and Taie spots in the quarterfinals which like the round of 16 will be played on a knockout basis.
