CAIRO - Soccer is like anything in life. It requires change, new tactics, new theories and new people. But, for Egypt's Ahly, the matter seems to be different. There's only one coach they want and they want him to make Egypt his home and stay with them forever. This man, Manuel Jose from Portugal, has returned to coach Ahly for the third time. He was previously in charge of the team from 2001 to 2002 and then from 2003 to 2009. The Portuguese manager signed an 18-month contract with the Cairo side earlier this month after lengthy talks. Ahly have appointed Jose as coach again, because they have made no progress without this giant. He follows in the footsteps of Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafei 'Zizo', who coached the team on a temporary basis. Zizo replaced Jose's ex-assistant Hossam el-Badri last year after his retirement. El-Badri, the most prominent national figure to lead the team, didn't gain the confidence of the board or the fans, even though he led the Red Devils to the league title last year. The Cairo giants had been looking for a permanent coach. The Portuguese, the most successful coach in the club's history, left in 2009 to coach Angola. Jose, who then to Saudi Arabia to coach Ittihad Jeddah, kept in constant contact with Ahly's board. He wanted to leave the Saudi club, but he was confined by a 200,000 euro penalty clause in his contract with the Jeddah outfit. He then contacted Ahly, who agreed to pay some of the money, while the coach paid the rest, allowing him to return to Egypt. Jose has brought three assistant coaches from his country with him, to try and ensure Ahly clinch the title again. Jose, who guided the club to 18 titles in his two spells in charge of the Cairo side, and his assistants will cost the club 140,000 euros monthly. Jose joined Ahly for the first time in 2001 and won the Champions League and the African Super Cup before returning to his home country to coach Belenenses. He returned in 2003 to help them win four league titles, two Egypt Cups and four Egyptian Super Cups. The Portuguese also won three more Champions League titles as well as three Africa Super Cup titles. Most people …quot; officially and unofficially …quot; either in Egypt or outside it, who love Ahly, wanted Jose to return to the team. The club are in the fourth place with 24 points, six points behind league leaders, Zamalek, their arch-rivals. So far this season, Ahly have stumbled in many games, in addition to being eliminated from the African Champions League. But one man's meat is another one man's poison. Some sports figures are not welcoming Jose's return, including Egypt's captain Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Shawqi and Sayyed Mowad, who didn't gel with the old coach, who often left them on the bench. Hossam Hassan, Zamalek's coach, and his football director brother, Ibrahim Hassan, are, unsurprisingly, unhappy too. Meanwhile, Jose, much loved by the fans, has promised to turn the team around. Coaching career Jose has coached Sporting Portugal, Boavista FC, Belenenses and SL Benfica, among other teams. He is credited for discovering Luís Figo. He replaced Paulo Autuori as Benfica manager in the middle of the 1996/97 season, but they finished in 3rd place. Despite his bad results, he remained for the next season, when a humiliating 3…quot;1 defeat to Rio Ave led Benfica's direction to sack him. His best results have been a Cup of Portugal win, in 1992, with Boavista, and 18 titles as coach of Ahly. He also helped the Red Devils to a record-breaking unbeaten run of 71 matches, while he also managed to win the African Champions League with the team four times (2001, 2005, 2006 and 2008), the first coach to achieve such a feat. In 2001, his first year, he guided the Cairo club to African Champions League glory with a squad consisting mostly of promising young stars like Hossam Ghali. He marked his first victory with Ahly in a 1…quot;0 win over Real Madrid in a friendly. Jose was honoured by President Hosni Mubarak with the Medal of Sports (First Class) for his contributions to Ahly and Egyptian football on December 24, 2006. This is the highest honour for a foreigner in Egypt. On May 13, 2009, Jose was officially appointed by the Angolan Football Federation (FAF) as the national team's head coach. The same year, he was chosen as Portuguese Manager of the Year 2009 by SIC TV network, finally winning the award after his fourth consecutive nomination. On May 31, 2010, Al-Ittihad Jeddah's officials hired the Jose as their new head coach. Last month, he resigned after eight consecutive draws. When he left the Saudi side, it was the first time that he hadn't completed a contract in the past 10 years. Afew days ago, on January 1, he came home to Ahly. Teams Jose has managed 1977…quot;1982 S.C. Espinho 1982…quot;1983 Vitória S.C. 1983…quot;1985 Portimonense 1985…quot;1986 Sporting Clube de Portugal 1987…quot;1990 S.C. Braga 1990…quot;1991 S.C. Espinho 1991…quot;1996 Boavista F.C. 1996 C.S. Marítimo 1996…quot;1998 SL Benfica 1999…quot;2000 U.D. Leiria 2001…quot;2002 Al-Ahly 2002…quot;2003 Belenenses 2003…quot;2009 Al-Ahly 2009…quot;2010 Angola 2010 Al-Ittihad 2011…quot;present Al-Ahly Titles with Ahly - African Champions League: 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008 - African Super Cup: 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009 - Egyptian League: 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009 - Egyptian Super Cup: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 - Egyptian Cup: 2006, 2007 - Third Place in FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2006 - Best Portuguese Coach 2008.
