In the hire-’em-fire-‘em world that is the Arabian Gulf League, Marcos Paqueta represents something of an anomaly.
The Al Shabab coach is the one constant to the perpetual change around him, fastened tight to the managerial carousel as others are wrung out and spun out.
Yet here is the spin: Paqueta is not just surviving, but thriving. Only 18 months into his two-year tenure at the Rashid bin Maktoum Stadium – a period that makes the Brazilian the second-longest serving manager, at one club, in the UAE top flight – Paqueta has just signed a contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2016.
Coaches are an endangered species in these parts, yet Shabab’s main man is outlasting almost them all. So, what is his secret?
“I guess it’s the philosophy of the work,” he says in his native Portuguese. “The administration was looking for a person like me. They like stability in work and wanted someone who had the same vision: a complete job, for long term and with stability.
“The target is to change the structure and the philosophy of the club.”
Paqueta should try stretching that to the league, for it could do with a little tweaking. There have been 104 coaching changes in its five full seasons as a professional entity; this term alone, half of the division’s 14 squads train to a different voice to the one that shaped their summer.
Fingers permanently poised on the trigger, clubs prefer the both-barrels approach. Temporarily bulletproof, Paqueta recognises he is an exception. “It’s a problem; this is very clear here,” he says.
“Most clubs work for quick and immediate results, momentary results. They finish by working more with emotion than reason. But this is football.”
And at Shabab, it is cold, hard arithmetic.
“Here, it’s different,” Paqueta says. “The administration is more reasonable in their thinking. They don’t think about the club only as a club, but as a company. And to make your company work you need some income.
“Since our work will bring results and the team will grow bigger and better, the income will come more and more.”
Given the season thus far, the club accountants are set for a busy year. With the 2013/14 campaign reaching its halfway point today, Shabab sit second in the standings, keeping Al Ahli in sight.
They are the country’s most prolific side, while boasting the third-meanest defence. It is a recipe for short-term success, although Paqueta, 55, is too long in the tooth to make any predictions.
And, besides, his has a more permanent plan.
“People see our progression and just become fanatical and say we’re likely to win the league, but we’re also doing all this work off the pitch,” he says. “This is the very important thing: the stability and the time.”
So, too, is having the confidence of the Shabab board. As the award of a new contract suggests, the two parties are on the same page.
“It’s the first point of importance,” Paqueta says, switching to English as if to reinforce the point. “I talk about the triangle: the players, management and the administration. When there is this – a good connection – everything is clear.”
It helps that the connection stretches way back. In fact, in UAE terms, Paqueta’s affinity with Shabab seems almost prehistoric.
In 1988, while a coach at Flamengo, the aspiring manager impressed to such an extent during a friendly against a UAE side in Brazil that he was asked about his availability for a position at Shabab.
Goodbye Copacabana, hello desert; Paqueta, about to turn 30, commemorated a landmark birthday with a milestone move to Dubai.
“I was really young, but one characteristic was always to take an adventure,” he says. “Since I finished school I had a pioneer’s mind and wanted to do new things.
“And there was a little bit of curiosity because I was one of the first coaches to come here. So I took the challenge. While others were finishing their careers and coming back to Brazil, I was going the opposite way. It was good.”
There were testing moments, though. Much like the emirate he would temporarily call home, Paqueta was trying to shape a future on unlikely foundations.
“At the beginning it was difficult because I arrived with a great urge to make something, to realise something,” he says. “I came with a professional mind while here was really different.
“Because for people football was a bit of a joke. Players didn’t come to training; they were absent most of the time. They didn’t take it seriously. So this left me a little bit tense, but I could manage it.”
Having guided Shabab to a fourth-place finish in his first season, Paqueta anticipated building on a promising start only to see his Dubai stay quickly curtailed.
It had nothing to do with a whimsical employer. “War,” he says, again in English. “The Gulf War [of 1990/91]. I took my vacation, heard something and didn’t come back.”
And so he continued to carve a career in Brazil, first back at Flamengo and then Fluminense, before a standout 2003 saw him coach both Brazil’s Under 17 and Under 20 sides to World Cup success.
The latter gave particular satisfaction, given Paqueta was jetted into the role 10 days before the tournament.
A makeshift squad, although still replete with promise in Dani Alves and Adriano, the current Barcelona full-backs, and Fernandinho, now at Manchester City, stormed to the title, defeating Spain 1-0 in the final at Zayed Sports City.
A year later, Paqueta was back in the Middle East. Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia started a hugely successful spell in the kingdom, which included a 2006 World Cup with the Saudi national team – “a fantastic experience” – more club-football trophies and trinkets in Qatar and then some time as Libya coach.
In 2012, Shabab came calling again. Paqueta was already flush with offers and set to accept a deal with Baniyas, but old bonds ensured a return to his original UAE home.
“There had always been communication in the past; the relationship had continued,” Paqueta says. “While we were discussing my overall vision of the club, I talked to Shabab about a two-year project and then after we could see about the future. But it has happened very early.”
“It” – the new contract – reportedly nearly never happened at all. Five defeats in his first eight league matches last season prompted speculation about his suitability to the job, and detailed discussion with his superiors.
Fortunately, for Paqueta, he was provided the opportunity to turn the situation around. And he did: Shabab went unbeaten for 13 matches, were the only UAE team to progress to the knock-out stages of the Asian Champions League and reached the final of the President’s Cup. Patience had paid off.
“I knew where the problem was and talked to the president and told him that we just have to wait, that this will take a little time,” Paqueta says. “He was very understanding, which gave us confidence. That was fundamental.
“And this year shows we’re on the right path because things are really starting to come true. I guess that’s what encouraged the administration to renew earlier for three more years.”
Three years to carry out his grand plan, something that clearly excites him. Emphasis is on developing players, from the first team to the reserves to the U19s, both technically and tactically, but psychologically, too.
Maintaining the conveyor belt of fine local talent, seen last year with Hassan Ibrahim and this season with the impressive Manei Mohammed, is another tenet. Paqueta is looking at legacy.
“I’m really concentrated on these few years; it’s really a long time here,” he says. “I don’t want to think much further. There are some good things we’re working on that you’ll see next year, things that will help a lot in forming a really strong team. If I eventually leave a line of work – a philosophy of work – this will satisfy me.”
Fulfil his contract, and Paqueta would not just break the mould but hopefully fashion a new trend. He is proof that, in the hazardous confines of the Arabian Gulf League, much can be achieved with a little perseverance. He must be a glutton for punishment.
“Yeah, sure,” he says with a laugh. “There’s a very old proverb that says the distance between a coach and a crazy man is too short.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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