The news that Manuel Jose will leave Ahli by the end of the season to take over the Angolan national team has made us all start to wonder how life will be for the Cairo giants after the Portuguese's departure. The Jose years are definitely the club's most important and successful ever. The 63-year-old's second spell at the club lingered for five and half very flourishing and fruitful seasons, and Just few months ago the idea of an Ahli without a Jose seemed unimaginable and unacceptable by nearly all club fans. The former Benfica coach won 18 titles for the club, including four consecutive Premier League titles, three CAF Champions League trophies and two Egypt Cup championships. Moreover, the man developed the skills and abilities of a considerable number of players who went on to become pillars of the Egyptian national side that won the 2006 and 2008 African Cup of Nations. He established certain and efficient style of play which enabled Ahli to be and by far the best club in the whole African continent. Many Egyptian coaches admitted that they already learned a lot from playing against Jose and no one can deny that the tactician is arguably the most successful to have worked in the country. However and despite all these remarkable achievements, the Jose years will surely have some negative effects on the club's future.
The Jose years are definitely the club's most important and successful ever. Ahli became too good for everyone else, they started winning games and titles even if they were underperforming. At some points, the club became the best of the worst whether that was locally or continentally. The everlasting victories made Jose, his players, club fans and board unfortunately adopt a somewhat arrogant approach towards anyone and anything in the world. People simply got used to winning and it will be a great test to their patience when they realise that nothing lasts forever. The bigger problem is that Jose himself never fully trusted Egyptian players' capabilities. He did all the hard work with the crop of players he had under his disposal during the 2004-2005 season and that was it. Any newcomer found it nearly impossible to break into the team. In many occasions, Jose never even gave new signings the chance to prove themselves. Hence Ahli's current starting line-up includes seven players who used to start in 2004. Players were losing form, growing older, suffering from fatigue and Jose was having none of it. He kept counting on the same squad and never invested any time or effort on the many transfers that were made by the board. Now Ahli have Barakat, Abou-Treika, Shadi, Wael Gomaa, Flavio Amado and Ahmed Hassan all above their thirties.
Life after Jose will surely be hard on Ahli. Everyone has to be aware of that and accepts whatever results and situations the whole club face over the next season. Summer signings Ahmed Hassan Farag, Hussein Yasser, Hussein Ali and Hani Al-Egeizi did not play enough, are frustrated and they all became half the men they were when they first joined the club. Most of the other existing players got used to playing under Jose. Five years with one coach is a very long time for Egyptian footballers and now some of them may find it hard to deal and adapt to a different coach with a different mentality. It will be the same thing with the fans. Jose reached a cult status for them after they won everything under his management. Now they will be comparing whoever takes charge of the team with him from day one. It might not take four long seasons – like Ahli's last league drought between 2001 and 2004 – for the Red Devils to bounce back after Jose's departure, but it will sure take sometime. Life after Jose will surely be hard on Ahli. Everyone has to be aware of that and accepts whatever results and situations the whole club face over the next season. Read also Profile - Jose leaves his mark on Egyptian football
