RSL pioneer Donis returns to former club in need of a lift

Whenever a coach or player returns to face their previous club, there is always a little more than the three points on the line.

Whether the split was acrimonious or harmonious, personal pride dictates that those games mean a little bit more. Revenge isn’t necessarily the right word, but they want to show how their decision to leave was in fact the right one.

That will certainly be the case this weekend for former Greek international, Georgios Donis, when he travels to Mecca to take on Al Wehda, whom he left - after a second spell in charge - at the end of last season. Now at Al Khaleej, the clash between the teams in 13th and 14th in the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League has a lot riding on it - even more than Donis’ personal pride.

After a difficult season in Mecca, Donis parted ways with Al Wehda and quickly found himself on the other side of the country, replacing Pedro Emmanuel at Al Khaleej. Hoping for greener pastures at the club clad in green, it has been far from the dream start for Donis in Saihat. Al Khaleej have won two of their first seven in the league to sit 13th in the table.

The season started well enough, with a 1-0 win against Damac on opening day, the first time in Al Khaleej’s history that they had kicked off a RSL campaign with a victory. But the early promise hinted at in that triumph has failed to materialise in the following two months, with one further win in six league matches since.

Worse still, Al Khaleej have scored the fewest goals in the RSL this season, with three in seven matches. Patently, you can’t win games if you’re not putting the ball in the net.

For all their issues, Donis said in the aftermath of Friday's loss against Al Ahli that he was happy with the performance of his team in recent weeks, but insisted they needed both more quality and luck in the final third. It suggested Al Khaleej may need to bring in new players in the January transfer window. Until then, however, they must make do with what they have.

It’s why their visit to Mecca on Thursday is so important. A win is not only much needed, but it would make it two victories in Al Khaleej's past three RSL outings. In turn, that would give Donis and his side some momentum ahead of games in the next few weeks against Al Raed (11th) and Al Fateh (18th).

For a team struggling to score, coming up against the side with the worst defensive record in this season’s RSL is probably the ideal match-up, which only serves to add another layer of intrigue to the clash at King Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium.

For Donis, as difficult as the situation is, this is far from his first rodeo. The 55-year-old has worked in the RSL since 2021, and before that had a 14-month stint in charge of Al Hilal. There, he won the King’s Cup, Crown Prince Cup and Saudi Super Cup.

That said, success in his second foray into Saudi football has proved more elusive for the former Panathinaikos and Blackburn Rovers midfielder, who knows all too well the travails of a RSL relegation battle.

Brought in by Al Wehda at the tail end of the 2020-21 season to aid their survival hopes, Donis couldn’t conjure the magic required to keep the club afloat. Eight months later, in January 2022, he was handed an opportunity with Al Fateh, who were also in the thick of an epic relegation fight.

In a season where only five points separated sixth and 15th, Donis and Al Fateh avoided the quagmire to finish eighth. The following 2022-23 campaign represented Donis’ best outside of his time with Al Hilal: winning almost half of their games, Al Fateh finished sixth. It marked their best finish since fifth in 2017-18.

A return to Al Wehda followed for the 2023-24 season and halfway through the campaign they were flying, turning at the midway point in eighth and looking at their best finish since 2020. While results fell away in the second half, with Donis bemoaning off-field issues, he managed to keep them afloat and stave off the unwanted statistic of experiencing relegation with the same team twice.

That’s a fate Donis will be hoping to prevent with Al Khaleej this season. A win against his former employers, therefore, would do just nicely as the side from Saihat look to get their fortunes back on track.