JEDDAH, 5 October 2007 — German coach Theo Bucker could only rue the might-have-beens after his quick departure at Al-Ahli club, who wooed and eventually signed him from Al-Wehda to a contract worth $450,000.
Less than two months into the job Bucker was fired, the three straight defeats in the Saudi Football League coming as the last straw that hit the camel’s back.
Though Bucker said he saw the sack coming it came too soon.
“The pink letter was not a surprise and it did not come out of the blue specially after the bad results for a team who won two domestic championships the past season. I wasn’t lucky enough with the team. Considering my techniques results could come after a longer period of time,” he said. “I believe the club decision was a bit too soon,” he added.
For Ahli buying time is not an issue, immediate results are and Bucker simply failed to deliver.
Bucker’s coaching techniques do not sit well with the Ahli bosses.
Despite the complaints Bucker stuck to his guns. “Its early for anyone to judge on the success of game plans which no one figured out and could not implement perfectly on the team, yet I trust it and if time was on my side I am sure I was going to bring Ahli team better luck.”
Ahli’s decision to let Bucker go did not shake the German’s confidence in him at all. He said he did not regret coaching them or leaving them. “I am a professional coach and I know what I am doing. Wehda’s success in the last season was a big proof of that.”
Bucker basically earned his spurs as coach at Wehda, a team he helped develop from a virtual non-entity to a Final Four contender in the King’s Cup.
He explained that Ahli is a big name in the field of football and thus his techniques were supposed to be easy to adapt to because of the talented footballers this team has. “But I apologize to Ahli loyal fans for not being able to make them happy.”
When asked what could be the reason why he failed with Ahli, Bucker said its time. He said he was unable to decide on the final squad list due to the many numbers of training camps for the national team and the players who are playing for the first team or Olympic team. “This forced us to have new player in every meeting and it affected my plan and the team.”
A case in point was when the team entered training camp in Tunisia and played several friendly matches in addition to participation in the Switzerland International Championship with the same team. Majority of the squad were from Ahli’s second team as their veteran international players were then absent and representing the national team and Olympic team. “This created an unsatisfying preparation and results to both club and fans,” he said.
Bucker came to Saudi Arabia 25 years ago as a foreign player Al-Ittihad club. He grew fond of the country and remained here playing and then coaching. After having had coaching stints at Al-Kuwait club and Al-Ismaili club of Egypt in 2005 Bucker returned to his “Saudi roots” in 2006 when he coached Al-Wehda.
At the end of the interview Bucker said he needed to take a short vacation before he considers several juicy offers from Saudi and Gulf clubs. He wished Ahli the best of luck.
