Taking over a big, underachieving port city club with a loyal fanbase that is desperate for success should not faze Matthias Jaissle. Should he take the role vacated by Eddie Howe, the 38-year-old German will leave Jeddah as a hero and arrive in the north-east as one of the most successful coaches in the history of Asian football.
A decade younger than Howe, Jaissle has achieved plenty, not only surviving in a Saudi Pro League that chews through coaches at a rapid rate but emerging victorious. It also helps that Al-Ahli and Newcastle share the same Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) owners.
Newcastle fans may know little about the former centre-back, whose playing career was cut short by injury, but that was also the case in Saudi Arabia when he arrived three years ago. Austria’s Bundesliga is not followed much in Asia, so two titles won with Red Bull Salzburg did not mean a great deal: neither did Jaissle’s association with Ralf Rangnick.
Fans were more focused on Al-Ahli’s recent return to the top flight, after a first season in the second tier, and were contemplating an influx of big-name players. A little different to the situation at St James’ Park with stars such as Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon already gone and others seemingly about to follow.
In Jeddah, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, Édouard Mendy, Franck Kessié and others arrived in a summer when the club was acquired by PIF. For a team that had been in the doldrums a year earlier, it was quite a turnaround.
Despite all that Al-Ahli may have been the perfect club for Jaissle. The fans are famously passionate but had only one domestic league win since 1984. In Asia there had been two comprehensive Champions League final defeats. Compared to Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad – also in the PIF stable – the Green corner of Jeddah had been relatively starved of success and, for a while, challenging again was enough.
For the then 35-year-old, dealing with such names did not seem a problem. His straight-talking style, with the foreign stars treated the same as the locals, drew a positive response. With his wealth of attacking talent Jaissle tried to win possession as high as possible to give players such as Mahrez the chance to shine. His preferred attack-minded, high-intensity playing style may move up a gear by the North Sea compared to the heat and humidity of the Red Sea.
In his first season Al-Ahli finished third, 11 points ahead of their fierce local rivals Al-Ittihad and, crucially, qualified for the AFC Champions League Elite. The second season was more difficult, for a while at least. After the departure of Allan Saint-Maximin, Jaissle wanted a replacement winger but, instead, Ivan Toney was signed and the England striker started slowly. Results dipped but were improving by January 2025 when the axe threatened to fall. Max Allegri was ready to take over, the kind of eye-catching coach that fans often want. But not in this case – members of the Green Army supported Jaissle, who had always taken time out to praise and talk to fans. A group of them appeared at the training ground with banners telling club management they should be the ones to go.
And it worked. Al-Ahli said Jaissle was staying with their full support. In came a winger, Galeno from Porto, and with the Brazilian getting the best out of Toney, Al-Ahli moved up a gear. They finished fifth in Jaissle’s second season but got more points. It was all about the Champions League, however. In the semi-finals, they defeated Al-Hilal, 19-time Saudi and four-time Asian winners. Then, in May 2025, in front of 60,000 fans in Jeddah, Kawasaki Frontale of Japan were defeated.
Then Al-Ahli did it again, winning the Asian title for a second time last May to become the first team since their Jeddah rivals, Al-Ittihad (in 2004 and 2005), to clinch successive Champions League crowns.
They also had a title challenge at home that only faded in the final weeks with Toney scoring 32 goals. In 34 games the team collected 81 points, 14 more than the previous season, and had Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal not been so consistent then it could have been a spectacular double.
The focus for the new season, due to start in August, was all about the Saudi Pro League title; but that should be someone else’s concern now.
Jaissle was recently linked with Al-Hilal and while that wouldn’t have gone down well with fans in Jeddah, he heads to Newcastle with the blessing of most. The German was always likely to return to Europe, and departs with success in Saudi Arabia, having won major titles. Many more experienced coaches have failed in that regard. Newcastle will be a different and tougher challenge.
He is not part of the elite any more but taking Newcastle closer to the Premier League’s top four would be a good start.
