Future looking brighter for Al Shabab in Saudi Pro League after turbulent summer

Not since the partial acquisition of Saudi Arabia’s top four clubs by the Public Investment Fund in June has there been as much excitement about the transformation one club in the Saudi Pro League is undergoing as is the case around Al Shabab at the moment.

Fans of the Riyadh-based team, the third most successful in the Saudi Pro League, have been vocal about their frustration at the club being left out of the summer’s influx of new wealth.

Following a poor transfer window and their worst start to an SPL season in recent history, things reached a tipping point with the supporters gathering outside the club in August calling for the resignation of the club president and its board of directors.

Three days later, four members of Al Shabab’s seven-man board handed in their resignations, prompting the Ministry of Sport to call for fresh elections, and, by the end of September, Mohammed Al Manjam had been elected as new club president, promising an era of change.

One challenge facing Al Manjam’s plans for immediate transformation was the fact the transfer window had closed a couple of weeks before his election, meaning that any additions to the squad would have to wait until January.

Beyond that, there were plenty of other areas to work on, and the new board got down to business with the sense of urgency needed to rescue a traditional powerhouse teetering on the brink of relegation.

An abysmal start to the season that saw Al Shabab go into match week 6 without a single win to their name and with just two points collected cost Dutch manager Marcel Keizer his position.

Youth-team coach Juan Brown took over as interim manager, so the first task on the in-tray of Al Manjam’s administration was to find a permanent replacement.