Radhi Jaidi: Tunisia needs football revolution to compete at higher level

After nearly two decades away from his native Tunisia, Radhi Jaidi’s return to Esperance in 2021 was supposed to mark the triumphant homecoming of a legend.

Jaidi emerged as a commanding center-back for the Tunis heavyweights before making history as the first Tunisian to play in the English Premier League for Bolton Wanderers, and later Birmingham City and Southampton.

Coming back to Esperance as head coach, Jaidi — who had impressed as Southampton U23s boss after hanging up his boots — arrived promising to use his English football experience to improve the fortunes of his first club.

It started well, with a Tunisian Super Cup triumph over CS Sfaxien but Jaidi ultimately lasted less than a year. His sacking, after a shock Tunisian Cup exit to CS M’saken, was particularly brutal — coming just two weeks before his side were crowned Ligue 1 champions.

It was tough to take and Jaidi, who is now on the coaching staff at Belgian top-flight club Cercle Brugge, feels that his time at Esperance proved a valuable learning experience.

“Even though Tunisia is my country and I know the mentality and culture, this was a difficult experience,” Jaidi told Arab News. “The main lesson I took from Esperance is that you can never fully trust the process. I agreed on a plan, on the objectives with the owner and the president — it was about building something long-term. But then he changed his mind.

“I’m sad that we couldn’t finish the project we started but we had many positive steps and successes, such as objectives around improving players and staff. I also think the football we showed in Esperance was beautiful football to watch.

“As a former player of Esperance, it was still a dream for me to be a head coach and that experience