During his six years as Enppi's head coach, Taha Basri held on to an idea, a dream of establishing an excellent reputation for the team in the Egyptian football scene, and now, as we watch him set new and successive records, it seems he is heading towards the coachers guillotine. Basri, who took over as Enppi manager in 2000 and strained for two whole years before leading the team to promote to the Egyptian premier league in 2002, is now reportedly accused by the Petrol Sector's sports committee of being "not up to the team's standards", that were, ironically, set by the guy himself. The former Egypt star in the 70s, who worked in the shadows, slowly but surely, until he lead Enppi to clinch the Egypt Cup and place second in the Egyptian league last season, is said to be out of ideas. Just for the record, being promoted to the premier league, winning the Cup and placing second in the league is still considered a great achievement these days, also given the fact that this only happened in the space of six years, don't you think he would be capable of even more with some more time? Enppi also made their debut in the Arab Champions League (ACL)'s third edition and proved tough competition throughout their campaign, once again thanks to Basri's insightful coaching skills that helped the team qualify to the finals, in which they still have one more match to go. Putting all this in mind, I'd like to talk about stability, a term that is still somehow vague in the football officials' handbook, a term that was key to the success of English Premiership giants, such as Manchester United and Arsenal. Man Utd boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, who is now in his 20th year in charge, added 22 trophies to the club's silverware cabinet, which boils down to about one trophy per season, while Arsene Wenger, who has been with the Gunners for 10 years, won four FA Cups and three Premiership titles.
Putting all this in mind, I'd like to talk about stability, a term that is still somehow vague in the football officials' handbook Other examples of success after stability include Bolton Wanderers coach Sam Allardyce, who transformed the club during his seven-year rule to a top-notch Premier league club, and Charlton Athletic boss Alan Curbishley, who now is in his 15th year as head coach. This is all part of the stability factor I was refereeing to. The relation between coaching stability and the consistency of any club, in terms of internal strength and number of title, is crystal-clear. Any coach is expected to give his best and more, once he gets the backing of his club. On the opposite side, he will show great evidence of struggling if he lived in fear of being sacked after every other bad performance. An example for that would be Spanish outfit Real Madrid, who witnessed a succession of coaches without avail. Starting from Carlos Queiroz, going through Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariano Garcia Remon, Wanderlei Luxemburgo and the ongoing Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. Another example would be Southampton, who dropped out of the Premiership after 27 years, given the fact that they went through 12 coaches in a period of 12 years. All this leaves us in front of one conclusion, that Basri must remain as Enppi coach, he deserves it, especially after coming this far. He can still guide the team to new heights, on condition that he receives unconditional backing from the club board. "The show's not over until the fat lady sings," they used to say, well I'm telling you Basri is as ready as ever to sing…and dance.
