Just caught up with this mate - interesting starting in the UAE. I've never had anything to do with their league in FM. Great job on getting the league win though! Hopefully you can parlay that into some jobs elsewhere!
Thanks yeah would like to stay at Masafi but we would be totally out spent Asamoah Gyan is on ten times my wage budget a week and I can't see it going up much due to financial problems so think we would be totally out classed but got a couple of jobs I'm looking at with intrest
I still wasn't sure if it would be my final home game for Masafi, I was enjoying it but feel that we could easily get relegated with no wins. However, an impending game focused me. We would be hoping to throw a major wrench in Dibba Al-Furujahs promotion hopes. While we had won the league I wanted us to be celebrating after a wina nd not a loss. Just when it looked like we would be going into half time with only a low Dibba strike as the only piece of action the man whos name takes up all of his shirt once again grabbed a goal for us. We had a corner and their defender headed right to him and he made no mistake volleying it into the top corner. He might have had a chant for hi if his name wasn't so long. Just after half time and Essa who was on for Furtado took down a long ball and played in AWAA and he made no mistake firing past the keeper into the top corner for two nil. I heard a few fans chanting He scores when he wants he scores when he wants Abdul Wahed Abdul Aziz he scores when he wants, catchy. Then on seventy minutes we scored a goal I'd love to hear a commentator talk about as after and Omar Awdah ball forward Abdul Wahed Abdul Aziz was tackled by Saif Rashid Al-Dhabi and the ball fell to Mohammed Rashed Al-Mesmari and his shot from the edge of the box Mohammed Ali Hamed got a hand to it but couldn't keep it out. 3-0. Just past the eightieth minute a cross was headed to Mahmoud Awdah and he set up Mohammed Rashed Al-Mesmari to volley into the top corner. After the match we all got our medals and a chance to lift the trophy it was great and I once again gave the players time off training though mostly because I planned on being hungover. View attachment 241903Then there was what would probably be my last match in charge of Masafi and I really wanted to win it. We took the lead through our traditional route defender wins ball and puts foot through it a defender won the ball but it hit off of Awdah and rolled to Furtado to play him in and he squared it to AWAA to hit it into the empty net 1-0 after 15 minutes. We kept on pressing forward and crosses were cleared Furtado got the ball on the edge of the box and fired a beauty of a shot into the top corner leaving the keeper no chance 2-0 just after the half hour. we kept the pressure up and a cross was headed out to Awdah and he squared it to Juma Darwish and he slammed a great shot past the keeper and in a 25 yard pile driver 3-0. Just before half time a our Gk took a short free kick oddly but then it was punted forward and Awdah played it to Mohammed and he jinked into the box and from a tight angle hit a cross/shot that hit the post and AWAA tapped the rebound home 4-0 before half time. They pulled one back as a beautiful cross went just over Mohammed and and their striker volleyed home. 4-1. Juma Darwish played a beautiful ball from the half way line just over their centre back and Furtado rounded the keeper to make it 5-1. AWAA fired home from a Juma Darwish pass right into the corner 6-1 what a performance. 6-1 at the hour mark. After 80 minutes AWAA fired home from a low Mohammed cross for 7-1. They scored from a corner in the 87th minute but that was it the end of the season and possibly my time at Masafi but if so then what a last game. A record for goal in a game for Masafi. View attachment 241897Also the best ever finish from a Masafi team and the first trophy that Masafi have ever won I'm thrilled with that and will spend the next few days planning my future and place of work.
View attachment 241742Al Jazeera is reporting that after leading Masafi to the first division title and promotion Donaghy has resigned. It is thought that he wasn't pleased with the reduced wage budget and felt that Masafi would have no chance of keeping them from being relegated. He said that over half of the teams in the league had single players who would earn more than his squad could earn together. We have quotes from him now. "The budget that I was given left my position untenable we could have no chance of recruiting players that any other team had interest in as we could offer wages no where near what other teams could and could also buy no player from another team due to their wages." It is unknown as to where he will go but there are rumours of a move to China, the available job at Sharjah or a surprise move back to the UK as The New Saints have reportedly offered him a contract alongside one from an Indonesian team Borneo FC but it is felt that he does not want to accept either job offer.
Abdul Abdulikar is the current favourite to take the job and Jamie Donaghy will no doubt be back into management soon having already been linked with numerous jobs following his great over achievement with Masafi in leading them to the title with serious financial limits. We will give updates to both the Masafi job and Donaghy's job hunt.
View attachment 241681Donaghy announced as manager of Sharjah Sports Club
The English manager who led led Masafi to an unlikely promotion and title will be managing in the UAE Pro League despite his resignation from Masafi due to a lack of funding. Sharjah finished tenth last season only slightly worse than predicted showing high expectations for managers from Qatari royalty owner Abdullah bin Mohammed the owner of Sharjah airport and AirArabia will financially back his new manager. Donaghy was given a one year deal on an estimated twelve hundred pounds a week. He has said he is looking forward to leading Sharjah and will be appointing an assistant manager soon to help him look over the squad and decide on transfers. Sharjah fans are said to be pleased with their new manager and hope that he can bring them success as he did with Masafi
View attachment 241582Donaghy resigns after only 13 days in charge of Sharjah Sharjah have issued a statement saying that their manager Jamie Donaghy has resigned after only 13 days in charge of the team due to a break down in trust between him and the board. The Sharjah board said that they were dissapointed with Donaghy and urged teams to think twice before hiring him after what has happened with them. Donaghy will be holding a press conference soon and we will have full quotes from that conference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Donaghy slams "lying" board of Sharjah after rapid exit
Donaghy laid the fault for his astonishingly quick exit at Sharjah firmly at the board and said that no sane manager should apply for the job. Here are some quotes from his conference.
"I had my wage budget cut by forty thousand pounds and lost all of my hundred and fifty thousand pound transfer budget."
The wage budget went down to a level where three players alone were over it and the board refused to allow them to be released and no one was interested in buying them. This meant that I couldn't offer a contract to existing players and new players and would have left me with a squad of about fifteen players and still over the wage budget.
I had released the all but three players of the under 19 and reserve squad and some first team players to meet the initial wage budget cut but I could not meet the boards new requirement as I could not get rid of three players who were almost all of our wage budget. With the players that I had released and the players who's contracts were expiring I wouldn't have a squad and the board would not budge and give me more money.
He wrapped up by saying that if the board had done as they said they would then he would have stayed.
This spat could see Donaghy struggle to find a job and Sharjah struggle to attract a new manager.
I was distraught with the way that my time at Sharjah had gone and felt that it may make it harder for me to find a job but the board made my position untenable and they would have sacked me for poor results due to the awful results or being over the wage bill at some point so with a heavy heart I offered my resignation. I was also annoyed that I would miss out on living in Dubai and somewhere that I could drink my girlfriend was very ****** about not being able to live close to all of the top fashion shops but I eventually won her round to what I had to do for my career.
I had been applying for job for a couple of months with a few interviews but nothing concrete teams were put off by the 13 days at Sharjah however, like buses three came at once two in the Saudi Arabian second division and one in the Malaysian Super League. I picked my preferable of the two was Ohod so I had to decide between Ohod and Sime Darby. I decided that despite not being allowed to drink their and the clothing restrictions Saudi Arabia was the preferred destination so I opened negotiations. I would be on twenty five pounds more a week than Masafi after tax but a grand less a week than at Sharjah. Apparently the team was based in Medina and as I wasn't a Muslim I would not be allowed to live in the city centre as it is to holy. Fortunately I negotiated housing in a compound where not all of the rules of Saudi Arabia applied but the alcohol ban did so I would again not be allowed to drink for another year or eat any bacon. All that was expected of me was that I avoid relegation which I felt was doable and the press agreed. They felt that we would finish clear of relegation. My girlfriend oddly not thrilled at the prospect of living in a country where she cant drive or go out of the compound on her own. Soon after landing in Saudi Arabia I had to sit my driving test. I went through a roundabout with no other cars and was then told that I had passed. I think a ten year old could have done it but hey no complaints. I then drove to Medina to get to the compound I would be staying at before going to meet the staff, players, and directors. I went to explore Medina and the view was astonishing. The things you can do with billions in oil money.View attachment 241153I just hoped i would be at the club for more that 13 days.
You know how I talked about meeting the staff? When the last manager left all the backroom team left with him I am the staff. With that settled I went to meet the players. I had planned to do some fitness but the cultural guide I was with said that it was Ramadan and as a result the players couldn't eat or drink during the day so pre season in the heat would give them heatstroke or kill them possibly so training was scheduled for the night I just told the players I expected us to avoid relegation which they agreed with and sent them home to return at night for training. i then set about finding staff to help and I'm willing to admit thought I maybe should have gone to Malaysia at least they had staff. The board meeting was the usual about aims for the season and my budget I had money to spend for the first time with lots of spare wage budget