Mamic wants to remain at Al Ain after title win
dubai — After plotting Al Ain’s march to a record-breaking 13th Arabian Gulf League title, their first in three years, coach Zoran Mamic has said that he would like to remain with The Boss.
The Croatian took over from caretaker Josko Spanjic in January last year following countryman Zlatko Dalic’s departure.
Mamic has a contract until the end of the season and revealed that negotiations are ongoing with the club hierarchy regarding a new contract.
Al Ain are still in line for more pieces of silverware with the club still fighting on two fronts. The Boss are in the semifinal of the President’s Cup where they take on fierce rivals Shabab Al Ahli on Wednesday. They are also in the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League where they take on Qatar’s Al Duhail SC over two legs. The first leg is on May 8. Mamic, who joined from Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb with whom he won seven titles — three as a manager and four as a player, said that Al Ain were like a family and added that he would like to remain with the club. “My wish to stay with Al Ain is not new,” Mamic said after his side swamped Al Nasr to wrap up the League.
“I want to stay in Al Ain but I’m not alone. We have two sides and like I said before the game, maybe this is a question for the club. We have negotiations and I think we find a way to close the deal but it not only depends on me, it also depends on the club,” he added.
Contract talks apart, the 46-yearold, had a heartfelt message to each and every one at the club.
“Congratulations to my team for a great game, great victory. First of all, I don’t want to analyse the game but I want to say a big thank you to all the people in the club, the people who work on the pitch, the people who wash our kits, the people in administration and of course all of my staff, the medical staff, technical staff, I want to thank them all for their support. Thank you for the great season. We can be very happy when we talk about the championship,” said Mamic.
“It is a great thing for me, it is the first trophy in this country, with this club, and I hope not the last. I have the privilege to work before in Dinamo Zagreb and I won seven titles. It is nice to have titles. You work for these. I thank the club for giving me the chance to be coach of Al Ain and I think I have given something back also to the club,” he said. Mamic said that the one quality that stood out with Al Ain was that it is like a family.
“I feel with the team, in the club, as in my family. We are like a family. Positive energy. With all the problems inside the dressing room, it’s normal: when you have 25 or 30 players in the dressing room and 20 people around them in staff —medical and coaching, there are always, like in every family, some problems. But we keep these problems inside and we solve them in the dressing room. And we respect each other very much. It is not easy because we have a lot of very good players, so it’s not easy for me as a coach to choose the best first 11,” explained Mamic.
“But I’m the one who make the decision and I have to make this decision and the players recognise that I try to be honest, try to be fair. And I feel very, very good here in the team and I feel the team also feel good with me, but also you could put the question in front of the players,” he added.
The League may have been won with a round to spare but Mamic said they are not finished just yet.
“We haven’t finished the season and we have two more competitions to do our best,” Mamic signed off.
james@khaleejtimes.com