Former Celtic striker Moussa Dembele and his Al Ettifaq teammates are currently embroiled in turmoil as they sit 12th in the Saudi Pro League. The dismal start to the season, comprising five defeats and two draws after ten, has prompted calls for Steven Gerrard to be sacked.
However, in an update on Tuesday, the Saudi club confirmed two changes to their hierarchy with Assistant Manager Dean Holden and Sporting Director Mark Allen shown the door.
Exclusive: Al-Ettifaq assistant manager Dean Holden and sporting director Mark Allen have both left the club by mutual consent following a meeting on Monday. Steven Gerrard to remain in charge.🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/l6sdwAcq3i
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) November 12, 2024
The update means that Gerrard will remain in situ for the time being but it is clear that the Saudi club are not interested in a poor run of form. Much has been made of the wages on offer in Saudi but clearly the club’s owners will not entertain their side being used to financially benefit players and managers from Europe.
Players like Moussa will likely be questioning whether the fortunes in wages are worth the footballing in Saudi and instruct their agents to review options. Another ex-Celt, Jack Hendry, is on the books with Ettifaq but the former Dundee man remains in contention for Scotland teams despite his transfer there.
Gerrard has been largely found out following a fluke season at Rangers, where his side benefited from COVID-19 to win the Premiership title. Subsequent appointments at Villa and now Al Ettifaq have pushed Gerrard’s name out the reckoning for jobs in England. The Liverpool legend’s managerial credentials were probably not helped by Michael Beale taking credit for any successes during their time at Ibrox, which coincided with six trophies for Celtic, two for St Johnstone and just one for Rangers.
1 Comment
S.Gerald is never a manager he was the same at newco The Ranjurs 2012 the only reason he his team won the league and stopped celtic from doing 10inarow was all p.lawwell fault for’nt buying and selling our best players and if celtic did get 10inarow that team playing at cheating liebrox wouldn’t be their because 10inarow would have killed the newco and their scum fans so hopefully no other clubs take on gerald because he’s not got a look in and couldn’t run brothel the guy is a fuds fud thats afact..