I thought I would have a look on the official Al Ahli website to see what they have said about his departure to Newcastle United.
It often gives an extra interesting perspective when any player (or manager…) moves to Newcastle United.
I think with all five of the players Newcastle United have signed so far this summer, they paid positive classy tributes to their departing young stars.
So what about Al Ahli and Matthias Jaissle.
Well, I went onto their official website today and I see they have now just today appointed Jaissle’s replacement.
It was all over their website and social media.
The main welcome piece for Marino Pusić said this: ‘Al Ahli Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Marino Pusić as the new Head Coach of the First Team.The Croatian-Dutch coach has signed a two-year contract until June 2028. Marino Pusić arrives at Al Ahli with extensive experience across European and Gulf football. In the Netherlands, he worked with FC Twente, AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord. As Head Coach of FC Twente, he guided the club to promotion back to the Eredivisie as Eerste Divisie champions in 2018–19. At Feyenoord, where he worked alongside Arne Slot, he was part of the coaching staff that won the 2022–23 Eredivisie title and reached the UEFA Europa Conference League Final in 2021–22.As Head Coach of Shakhtar Donetsk, Pusić led the club to the Ukrainian Premier League title and two Ukrainian Cup victories, while competing in the UEFA Champions League, including a memorable victory against FC Barcelona. He most recently coached Al Jazira in the UAE Pro League, where he helped secure qualification for the AFC Champions League and guided the club to a domestic cup final after several years without reaching that stage, further strengthening his understanding of the regional football environment. Recognised throughout his career for his coaching impact, Pusić has been awarded Coach of the Year by clubs where he worked as a head coach and was also nominated for UAE Pro League Coach of the Year in his most recent season. Pusić’s football philosophy, based on attacking football, intensity and tactical flexibility, aligns with the identity and ambitions developed by Al Ahli in recent seasons, while matching the qualities and profile of the Club’s squad. Coach Pusić will arrive with his full technical staff, whose composition will be announced in due course.’
One thing really stood out.
In the new manager statement above, Al Ahli made zero mention of who Pusić has replaced.
A little strange I thought.
I looked all over the Al Ahli official club website and I couldn’t find a single reference to Matthias Jaissle leaving.
I looked all over their official social media and eventually found this one sentence that Al Ahli posted on X/Twitter yesterday: ‘Al Ahli Club announces the end of the relationship with its First Team Head Coach Matthias Jaissle following his resignation, and the payment of the release clause within the contractual period.’
Isn’t it wonderful. That is, wonderfully bitter.
This is a manager who brought Al Ahli unimaginable success. Al Ahli had never ever won the Asian Champions League and Matthias Jaissle did it two years in a row!
My reaction to all of this, as well as finding it very amusing, is that I am now believing to a far greater degree that Newcastle United have got a very good replacement for Eddie Howe.
Al Ahli are obviously so gutted and bitter at losing somebody who has given them so much, they have reacted in this beyond bitter and childish way. I think this also goes a long way to explaining why it took so long for NUFC to officially announce Matthias Jaissle, the more reliable journalists had stated that the delay was down to ‘paperwork issues at Al Ahli’ that was holding things up.