If results go badly for Steven Gerrard in Dammam, he can join those who leave the eastern city and head over the King Fahd Causeway that connects Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and to the Sherlock Holmes pub in Manama. Inside are dark corners to enjoy a pint or two while watching Liverpool and Aston Villa.
That could also be a course of action if things go well. It’s hard to predict what will happen. Just as Gerrard’s coaching career has been up and down, Al-Ettifaq are an unpredictable team and the most-talked about league in world football right now has a habit of chewing up and spitting out more experienced coaches than the 43-year-old Liverpool legend.
On Monday, Gerrard joined a growing number of famous names moving from the Premier League and elsewhere in Europe to Saudi Arabia. Of all the appointments, this could be the most intriguing. Gerrard as head coach of Ettifaq really will take some getting used to, for him especially. Rangers and Villa have league championships, European trophies and huge attendances; Ettifaq will be another challenge completely. Whatever happens, he is now well and truly out of his comfort zone, on and off the pitch, and the experience will stand him in good stead for whatever comes next.
Gerrard’s first task is pre-season, with many clubs heading to the cooler climes of Europe. When they return home, training usually takes place late at night, at least until winter. This can cause issues for coaches who have to deal with foreign players who have nothing to do all day until 9pm and are often away from their families in complexes far from home.
The manager is going to have lots of time to get to know his players and the league. Just as important are the relationships with local members of the coaching staff. Success is hard otherwise. Talented and football-savvy translators are also worth their weight in gold.
Coaching churn in Saudi Arabia is off the charts. Last year, the 16 top-tier teams (which will grow to 18 in the season that starts in August) made 10 coaching changes, which was a quiet campaign compared to the year before when the tally was in the twenties. At the big clubs, especially, such as Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, Al-Ahly and Al-Shabab, the pressure is intense. Winless streaks begin at two games and talk of sackings starts at three.
Leonardo Jardim led Hilal to a record fourth Asian Champions League title in November 2021 but was out within three months. Ettifaq have made more than 30 appointments this century. It remains to be seen if there will be a little more patience shown now there are more famous names in charge of clubs and the football world is watching.
It is often the same when it comes to foreign players, with the limit growing to eight from last season. There are some who stay for three or four years but many come and go fairly quickly, sometimes as soon as the next transfer window.
There is not much pressure, then, to develop a certain style of play given that coaches and players do not expect to be around for long, while demands are immediate. There is also not much incentive to try to bring young players through when future tacticians will reap the rewards. Better to fill the most creative and offensive positions with foreign talents.
Gerrard is not going to be competing at the top of the table with Nuno Espírito Santo and his champions Ittihad or with Ronaldo at Nassr, but expectations remain high. Ettifaq finished seventh last season, though performances didn’t really match that rank – they were much closer in points to the bottom three than the top three and only two teams scored fewer than their 28 goals from 30 league games. The 2021-22 season saw a late escape from relegation but in the campaign before that the club managed a fifth-place finish.
It’s a mixed bag, then, but the top five is probably off limits, with Hilal, Nassr, Ittihad, Ahly and Shabab expected to fill those spots. Challenging the likes of Al-Taawoun and Damac for the places below, and going for the prestigious King’s Cup, would be success.
That would perhaps bring an even bigger prize: re-establishing Dammam as a hotbed of Saudi football. There is a long history of love for the game in the city, one of three hosts for the 2027 Asian Cup, along with Riyadh and Jeddah, and South Korea still talk of the “Dammam Shock”, named after their World Cup qualifying loss in 2005 at Ettifaq’s Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium.
If Gerrard can help recreate the atmosphere of that famous night on a more regular basis, any trip to the Sherlock Holmes pub across the way will be well-earned – and it wouldn’t do his coaching reputation any harm either.
