RIYADH, 28 August 2006 — Apparently unable to swallow the bitter pill of defeat from Saudi soccer league newcomer Al-Faisali Al-Nasr management fired Portuguese coach John Arthur on Saturday.
Arthur was given the walking papers a day after the shock 4-1 defeat in the Prince Faisal ibn Fad Cup competition in Riyadh and just two weeks after he signed as Nasr coach. In terminating the contract Nasr will pay all entitlements due Arthur.
To replace Arthur in charge at Nasr is Yousif Khamees, a former midfielder and coach at the club.
Besides the Arthur sacking and his replacement by Khamees, among the decisions made by club president Prince Faisal ibn Abdul Rahman was the appointment of ex-Nasr star Muhaisen Al-Jamman as football manager with full authority to choose his crew.
Khamees considers coaching Nasr club a big honor. He says it was not an easy decision to lead such a big team at this critical time but he would help lift the team up. Sources hinted Khamees is likely to terminate the services of imported players Blanco of Panama and the Dutch Michele.
Nasr fans welcomed the club management’s move to “fix what can be fixed before it was too late.” Still, Nasr fans questioned the wisdom of the club going all the way to Barcelona, Spain for training. Many fans said the training camp was a disaster and the best proof was the 4-1 defeat from a team that qualified to the Saudi league for the first time in their history.
Nasr faithful Adel Al-Mutairi said, “I think this year will be another year with no titles or trophies. For more than seven years we are without a title. We became an easy target for other teams and a station for other teams even small ones to come and collect the full three points. Our reputation as a big team in the Saudi league is threatened. The one we threw out, Saad Al-Zahrani , was the one who punished us big time by scoring two goals. We must forget what happened because that was in the past and focus on what is coming. We must get new players in our team unlike the two professional players we have but never benefited from.”
