‘I want to bring back Al Nasr glory days’

Dubai: New Al Nasr coach Ivan Jovanovic has said he hopes to bring back the Dubai club’s glory days.

The Serbian stepped down as coach of Cypriot side Apoel Nicosia — who he memorably led to the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals in 2011/12 — in April and was unveiled by his new club at the Al Maktoum Stadium on Tuesday.

“I am aware that this is the oldest club in the region with a lot of history and fans. It will be my first priority to take this club back to those glory days and be a mighty challenger in the region and in Asia,” Jovanovic said after being formally presented as coach for the next two years by Al Nasr’s Vice Chairman Ahmad Khoury.

“I am aware that Al Nasr has not won a championship title for more than 25 years now and I am here to rectify this situation. The best thing that I have noticed since arriving here is that everyone is willing to help me improve this situation.

Main target

“My first priority will be to meet my players and get to know them, and then also get to know the rest of the teams from the league. I want to see how best we can be prepared for the challenges ahead.”

While thanking Al Nasr’s board of directors for showing trust by appointing him as coach, Jovanovic was realistic about the challenges ahead. “I will try to repay their trust in me. But at the same time one has to remember that, in football, it is easy to make promises but not so easy to change things as we would want them to be. Our main target is to change the mentality of the players and make a better team than last year,” the 50-year-old insisted. Al Nasr reluctantly parted ways with previous coach Walter Zenga at the beginning of this month after more than two years at the helm.

There were rumours former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was then director of the club’s youth academy, would take over at the Dubai club. However, the Swede resigned the next day and took up a position with Chinese outfit Evergrande in Guangzhou.

There were several other names mentioned as contenders for the job, including Malaga’s Bernd Schuster, Brazilian Mano Menezes, who has joined Flamengo, and Dynamo Moscow’s new coach Dan Petrescu.

Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, Khoury backed up what Jovanovic said: “We want to be back to our glory days. We start our journey with an international coach who has remarkable experience. We know the road is going to be long and tough and we are there to support our new coach.

“We hope he will achieve some of the glory from the past. We want success once again. This is a historic moment and we want to be back where we belong.”