Dubai: After Al Jazira’s record-breaking Arabian Gulf League (AGL) title success under Henk ten Cate this season, question marks now linger around whether the Pride of Abu Dhabi can sustain their dominance.

Three consecutive runners-up spots preceded their first league title triumph under Brazilian coach Abel Braga back in 2010/11, but after that, they dropped to fourth, third, third, second and seventh-place finishes, in the five seasons between the two titles.

They have been through eight managers within that time, and Braga, who led them to their first title, even briefly returned for a second spell last season, as he unsuccessfully tried to arrest the club’s decline.

If he couldn’t do it, it seemed no one could, but Dutchman Ten Cate took over halfway through last season with the club in 13th spot in the 14-team league, staring relegation in the face. Despite only going on to salvage a seventh-place finish last season, he saved his job with a shock President’s Cup win on penalties over Al Ain.

That set the ball rolling for this season’s success, but what they must be wary of now is slipping back into the malaise that followed their last title-winning season, and key to that will be stability.

Already Ten Cate’s overtures on continuing seem bleak. Braga immediately returned to Brazil’s Fluminense after their 2011 triumph, and the fear now is that the Dutchman might follow suit.

That would be despite Al Jazira tentatively having qualified to this December’s Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi as champions of the host nation, the UAE.

However, if fellow UAE-sides Al Ain or Al Ahli, who are still in the Asian Champions League (ACL) go on to win that tournament, the ACL runners-up would be invited to the Club World Cup in Al Jazira’s place.

“First of all it’s not sure that I continue,” said the former Ajax boss, who surprisingly missed out on the AGL Coach of the Year Award to Al Ahli’s Cosmin Olaroiu on Monday.

“I’m thinking about it. My family is in Europe and I originally came here for six months to help my friend Buti [Al Qubaisi, the former chairman of the club’s board of directors].

“It’s already now 18 months so I don’t know if I’m going to continue. I’m going to discuss this with my family first.

“Of course, Al Jazira is a fantastic club and the success we had with this team makes me want to have more and there is a Club World Cup coming up and everyone wants to participate in that.

“But I’m at the end of my career, really,” added the 62-year-old. “I’m not really at the beginning, so things like this you discuss with your family and I will.”

This was a change in tone from Ten Cate, who had earlier said: “The league title is not the end. It is the beginning of an Al Jazira era in football.

“This team wants to write history, and if you want to write history, you should do and give everything you have. This is what we are going to do.

“This is what we want. And this is what the players want. And I’m going to help the players achieve that.”

There is also the small matter of keeping Emirati Player of the Year Ali Mabkhout, whose 33 goals this season not only secured him the AGL top-scorer’s award, making him the first Emirati to win the award, but also saw him take the record of most goals per season since the league turned professional in 2008.

He beat Asamoah Gyan’s previous best tally of 31 goals, which the Ghanaian scored while at Al Ain in 2012/13, making Mabkhout the hottest property in UAE football right now.

Best Goalkeeper of the Year Ali Khaseif, who conceded a record-equalling tally of just 15 goals, which included just two at home, this season, and Best Young Player of the Year, Khalfan Mubarak, who scored five in 22 league appearances this season, are also two players that Al Jazira need to keep hold of.

Whatever happens over the summer, it is clear the UAE’s traditional big two Al Ain and Al Ahli, who have shared the AGL title between them (Al Ain winning three and Al Ain winning twice) in the five seasons since Al Jazira’s past win, will be gunning for revenge next season. Al Wasl’s resurgence, under Argentine former Boca Juniors boss Rodolfo Arruabarrena, will also add to the threat.

A club of Al Jazira’s stature, however, should be disrupting the dominance of Al Ain and Al Ahli on a more consistent basis; while also making better inroads on Asia, where they have only got out the group twice in nine consecutive appearances, reaching the Last 16 in 2012 and 2014.