Al Ramadi turns his attention to next season

Abu Dhabi: Al Dhafrah coach Ayman Al Ramadi is already looking towards the new campaign after steering his team to safety this season.

The Egyptian coach, who took over in the sixth week of the season when the team was facing the threat of relegation, said they were looking to bring in new players.

"Believe me staying in the first division will not be enough for us in the new season," he said.

The club's management has already renewed the contracts of their technical staff and most of the players in a bid to achieve stability.

And Al Ramadi said the success of this term had been built on knowing the capabilities of his team and playing accordingly.

"In the first meeting with the players, I told them that we will aim to collect 24 points in the remaining 16 matches to escape relegation and stay in the first division and take part in the first UAE Professional League. Now after 16 matches we have already exceeded our expectations and collected 25 points."

Several centuries ago, philosophers said that the easiest way to achieve success is to "know thy self".

"Knowing our real capabilities and playing accordingly was the main reason for our success this season." Ayman Al Ramadi, the Egyptian head coach of Al Dhafrah, told Gulf News yesterday.

Al Ramadi took over in the 6th week of the league when the team that won promotion at the end of last season, was facing the threat of relegation.

"In the first meeting with the players, I told them that we will aim to collect 24 points in the remaining 16 matches to escape relegation and stay in the first division and take part in the first UAE Professional League. Now after 16 matches we have already exceeded our expectations and collected 25 points.

"We have regarded all our matches as crucial and were determined to help ourselves without waiting our other competitors to lose points even in our last match on Monday and although we know that if Al Wahda won their match, we will be in the first division, we decided not to know the result of the other matches so as not to distract the players and their focus in the match. We knew the other results after we won our game against defending champions Al Wasl." Al Ramadi added.

The management of Al Dhafrah Club, who were already delighted by the performance of the team, have renewed the contracts of their technical staff and most of the players to achieve a sense of stability in the team even before the end of this season.

" We have our plans to achieve our aims in the new season and we have already submitted our plans of preparing the team and bringing some new players to the line up to achieve these goals to the club's management and believe me staying in the first division will not be enough for us in the new season." Al Ramadi confirmed."