Al-Ittihad Ladies want to write history, says coach Myles Smith

LONDON: Myles Smith, Al-Ittihad Ladies’ irrepressible assistant manager, has always harbored grand dreams.

“My grandma used to ask us when we were young what we wanted to do when we were older, as grandmas often do,” he told Arab News. “I used to say, ‘Listen, grandma, I don’t mind what I do. I just want to work for Manchester United’.

“‘I don’t mind if I make the cups of tea or do any type of role, (such as) clean the bathrooms, I’ll do anything at the club’.”

Smith realized his dream at the club he supports — and it did not involve cups, saucers, or mops — when he became the women and girls’ scout for the Red Devils from October 2022 to June.

He had previously spent more than six years at West Ham in various roles such as women’s academy director.

Now Smith faces his most formidable challenge yet: Conquering the world of women’s football in Saudi Arabia with a fledgling club.

“We want to write history here,” Smith, 29, said of his master plan in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. “We want to win the league. We want to win the cup.

“We want to be in the Asian Champions League. We want to win that as well.

“You don’t take any job in sports to finish second.”

Such bullishness is typical of any self-respecting football coach.

But it could also be regarded as overly ambitious given that Al-Ittihad finished fifth in the eight-team Saudi Women’s Premier League in its inaugural season in 2022-23.

Furthermore, Smith has only been in the Kingdom since July — his first visit to the country and only his second trip to the Middle East after visiting Dubai.

The moment he arrived, the heat was palpable, both literally and figuratively.

The Englishman was “dripping with sweat” as he exited the airport to confront Saudi’s