The boss is back on top of the heap

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, one of the grandest clubs in UAE football, Al Ain, were on their knees, sliding down the table so fast that by season's end they came within one place of relegation.

The club, known as The Boss thanks to their list of achievements, including a record nine domestic league titles, five President's Cups and an AFC Champions League in 2003, were living on past glories.

Fast forward to this week, the club are sitting pretty at the top of the Etisalat Pro League and, just maybe, are heading for their first title since 2004. There are a whole host of reasons why the upswing has happened and the fact they have coincided has produced a heady cocktail.

Credit has to go to coach Cosmin Olaroiu. At first sight, the appointment of a Romanian who speaks no Arabic may have appeared odd but Olaroiu has coaching history in this part of the world, with Saudi Arabia's biggest club, Al Hilal, as well as Al Sadd of Qatar, and he has brought all of that experience to bear at Al Ain.

Hard work pays

He has achieved buy-in from the Emirati players - via a Lebanese interpreter - to his philosophy of hard work on the training pitch and that is something not many foreign coaches can claim to have done.

Added to Olaroiu's alchemy is the fact he has had some outstanding foreign talent at his disposal. Last year's failing crop was jettisoned and in their places have come proven quality. Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan, in the prime of his career and playing for Sunderland in the English Premier League last season, has been banging in goals for fun while Mirel Radoi, the Romanian former international defender, has been equally effective at the other end of the pitch. Gyan is here on a year-long loan deal but it would be a huge surprise if the club were not already making efforts to tie him to a longer term deal, such has been his effect.

Throw in the clever skills of Argentinian Ignacio Scocco and the quality of Saudi Arabia captain Yasser Al Qah'tani, all of them able to inspire the local players and lead by example, and it is not difficult to see why Al Ain have been doing so well. And there has been local quality too, led by the veteran Hilal Saeed, back at the club for a second spell this term after time at Al Jazira.

Turnaround

The fact that the club convinced such high-profile foreign stars to come to what remains, whether we like it or not, a footballing backwater, is credit to the board which came into place in April 2011 with the mandate to sort out the chaos. That sorting out has included the hiring of the experienced and astute Carlo Nohra as Chief Executive after he stepped down from the same role at the Pro League in the middle of last year.

The fans, too, have played their part. Their vociferous support is not everyone's cup of tea but with poor attendances sometimes providing Pro League matches with a backdrop of near silence, they have proved to be an inspiration to the players. The club also benefit from being in a one-club city.

In the short term, the players, management and supporters face a test thanks to an injury to Gyan midway through round nine. He would have been unavailable in the near future anyway because of the African Cup of Nations but the way Al Ain cope with this first hint of choppy waters may well define the rest of the club's season.

Can The Boss last the distance in the title race? Only time - that most precious of commodities in UAE football - will tell.