Dubai: A lack of holistic education and long-term unified youth structure — and not former manager Srecko Katanec — were at the heart of the UAE's latest failure to qualify for the World Cup, according to local coaches and academics.
And if the problems with the youth system isn't addressed, it won't matter which coach is appointed next, they felt.
The UAE have so far lost all five third-round World Cup 2014 group qualifiers and sit below South Korea, Lebanon and Kuwait on no points.
Don Revie's former UAE assistant Pat Wright, who played under Brian Clough at Derby County, said: "Unless the UAE gets the right youth structure and proper development in place, you're not going to develop players to the right standard for any coach to come in. Good players make a good coach."
Ali Al Habsi's finder and current Al Wasl youth keeper coach, John Burridge, added: "It doesn't matter if you bring in Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, you'll still lose if you haven't got the right mentality."
Wright's view is to reshape the foundation of local football entirely from ages six and above, backed up with education, discipline, nutrition and psychology, all under a unified code of conduct with shared visions, values and culture at the nucleus of long-term success. He stressed the importance of finding someone to helm this combined approach long-term.
Base not wide enough
Tim March, co-ordinator at Sharjah Football Club, said: "Former UAE coaches Don Revie, Carlos Queiroz, Valery Lobanovski, Dick Advocaat and Roy Hodgson couldn't have all turned into bad coaches overnight. If professional football is the summit of a pyramid, our base simply hasn't been wide enough."
Burridge is an advocate of sending players abroad in their developmental phase at the age of 14 to 15, like he did with Oman and Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi. "Worldwide experience is something one man can never teach you — you have to go out and see it for yourself," he said.
The alternative has been to bring in foreign professionals at senior level and open allocations to expatriates at youth levels to raise the game of nationals and increase competition for shirts.
But Bernhard Schumm, director of coaching and development at the UAE FA, defended the existing system. "Anyone can come and compare our youth structure to the next. The difference is we have 50 players to select from at any one level and Japan has 5,000. Population-wise we are half the size of Singapore.
"The ingredient to a strong football nation is a good league and good youth structure. Our league is just four years old, but we have national youth teams from ages eight and upwards now — Japan doesn't have that. What's needed is patience."
