Al Masry say former coach Emad El Nahhas was upset after his son was not signed

Al Masry vice-president El-Husseini Abu Qamar says former manager Emad El Nahhas was unhappy because the club did not sign his son, while insisting chairman Kamel Abu Ali does not make decisions personally.

El Nahhas left his position as Al Masry manager after guiding the club to the Egypt Capital Cup title. Abu Qamar said the club recognised the coach’s contribution despite the circumstances surrounding his departure.

“We do not deny Emad El Nahhas’ efforts; rather, we remember his contribution to winning the Egypt Capital Cup,” Abu Qamar told MBC Masr 2.

He added: “We are one of the boards that are patient with managers; in fact, we always support them, and Emad El Nahhas knows that very well.”

Abu Qamar said it was not his responsibility to discuss the reasons behind El Nahhas’ exit, but claimed the former manager had misunderstood reports circulated on social media.

“Mentioning the reasons for El Nahhas’ departure is not my speciality,” he said.

“El Nahhas imagined that the reasons published on social media came from the board of directors, and this is not true.”

The Al Masry official also discussed the club’s recruitment plans and said Al Ahly would have carried most of the financial burden had the club signed Slovenian forward Marko Grgic, referred to in the original comments as Gradisa.

“Al Ahly would have borne the larger amount if we had signed Gradisar,” Abu Qamar said.

He insisted that El Nahhas’ disappointment over the failure to sign his son had brought the matter to a close, while rejecting any suggestion that the club’s president had allowed personal considerations to influence decisions.

“El Nahhas felt sad because his son was not signed, and that was the end of the matter. Kamel Abu Ali, the club president, never makes things personal,” Abu Qamar said.

He also revealed that El Nahhas had asked the club to sign Youssef El Fahli, a forward from RS Berkane. The proposed deal, however, would have cost about 50m Egyptian pounds.

“El Nahhas requested the signing of Bessini, the RS Berkane striker, and it would have cost us around 50 million pounds. ‘He is not Messi’; that figure is too high for us,” Abu Qamar said.

The vice-president further claimed that every player brought in by Al Masry had been approved by El Nahhas.

“We did not sign any player without the approval of Emad El Nahhas,” he said.

El Nahhas took charge of Al Masry before the end of last season and led them to the Egypt Capital Cup, giving the club their first trophy since they won the Egypt Cup in 1998.

His departure made him the first manager to leave his club in this season’s Egyptian Premier League.

Al Masry opened the current campaign with a 1-0 victory over Smouha before beating Al Mokawloon Al Arab 3-2. They then suffered a 1-0 defeat by Pyramids.

The club are preparing to face Petrojet on 7 September in the fourth round of the Egyptian Premier League.

Al Masry will also take part in the Egyptian Super Cup for only the second time in their history. The tournament is scheduled to be played in December.