Wael Al-Qadi and Bristol Rovers celebrate a football miracle for the ages

DUBAI: Time was running out and a fifth, sixth, and seventh goal were needed. They would, astonishingly, arrive, because that’s what football miracles are made of. But we’re jumping ahead.

This has been a good season for Arab owners of English football clubs. Manchester City are on the brink of retaining their Premier League title. Newcastle United have pulled off a record-breaking escape from relegation and are looking toward a bright future.

And Wigan have gained promotion to the Championship. But for sheer drama, none of these stories can quite compete with that of Bristol Rovers, owned by Jordanian businessman Wael Al-Qadi. At one point, the club was second to bottom in League Two, 91st out of 92 clubs in the pyramid of English football.

To say promotion to League One was against the odds would barely scratch the surface of the events of the season. “It was one of the most crazy, demanding seasons, really tiring because we went through it all, the lowest of the low to the highest of the high,” said Al-Qadi. “In a normal season, I’m here 50 percent of the time, I attend 50 percent of the games, but this season, because of what was going on, the upheaval in the club, going from rock bottom, I was here a lot more.

And as a result, negativity and stress and lots of problems arose from within the club, and around the club there was pressure on me to get rid of the manager (Joey Barton). It was basically a revolt from within the club to make change.” Some difficult decisions had to be taken, ones that have been vindicated spectacularly. “I stuck with him and as a result, I cleaned house in the club, everybody was just pushed out and I appointed the new CEO (Tom Gorringe) who was with us as a commercial director, he became