For Beitar or for worse

The legendary soccer team finally has a coach, but is it on the way to redemption?

By ALLON SINAI
Beitar Jerusalem coach and players 521 (photo credit: ASAF KLIGER)
Beitar Jerusalem coach and players 521
(photo credit: ASAF KLIGER)
Just when you think you have seen it all in Israeli sports, Beitar Jerusalem somehow surprises you.
It is hard not to feel sorry for Beitar fans following the roller-coaster of emotions they have been put through this summer by their beloved club. It was just over three years ago that Beitar was the dominant force in Israeli soccer, winning its first ever Premier League and State Cup double in the 2007/08 season.
However, owner Arkadi Gaydamak’s decision to stop funding the club in the summer of 2009 ended any hopes Jerusalem supporters may have had of consistent long-term success, and sent Beitar into a downward spiral it is still trying to escape.
Former sponsor Guma Aguiar kept the club afloat for the 2009/10 season, but seven months after saving Beitar from bankruptcy, the 32-year-old left Israel, with his mental health steadily deteriorating, resulting at one stage in his being forcibly admitted to the Abarbanel Psychiatric Hospital.
Chairman Itzik Kornfein managed to balance the club’s budget for last season with the sale of star players, but Beitar icon Uri Malmilian lasted just seven months as coach, and the team finished only four points clear of the relegation zone under the guidance of his replacement, Roni Levy.
Levy, who led Maccabi Haifa to three straight championships between 2004 and 2006, was supposed to rebuild the team this summer, but he left for Romanian powerhouse Steaua Bucharest at the beginning of June, the first of numerous blows Beitar would suffer in the off-season.
With Gaydamak still refusing to finance the club and no new investors in sight, Levy’s assistant from last season, David Amsalem, was put in charge, and in mid-July the future all of a sudden looked bright once more.
Two American businessmen, Dan Adler and Adam Levin, agreed to purchase the club from Gaydamak, promising to help it back to its former glory.
Adler told The Jerusalem Post, “We pride ourselves on being people who do what they say they are going to do. We are jumping into this not because we want to jump in and jump out but because we are making a very long commitment, and we believe it is actually going to be not only a long road ahead but an incredibly exciting and promising one.”
However, those proved to be no more than empty words by someone who insisted that he had come to contribute to Israeli society, only to instead cruelly crush the dreams of hundreds of thousands of Beitar fans.
Adler and Levin didn’t have to actually transfer a single shekel to Gaydamak, instead agreeing to pay his creditors an estimated $400,000 they are owed by him.
But they never put their money where their mouths were. Despite numerous promises, Adler and Levin failed to live up to their side of the bargain and plunged Beitar back into crisis when they pulled out of the deal.
It has been suggested that Levin couldn’t handle the pressure of left-wing friends urging him to avoid buying a club known for its nationalistic fan base or that Adler failed to recruit more investors like he assumed he would be able to.
Either way, the Americans were out of their depth from the start; and once they realized that, they escaped the sinking ship, shamelessly leaving Beitar to go under.
Kornfein was left to scramble to balance the club’s budget and just about managed to do so by selling promising forward Hen Azriel to Maccabi Haifa for approximately $1 million and postponing part of his own salary, as well as those of star players Aviram Bruchian and Amit Ben- Shushan.
But just when it seemed that the financial matters were finally under control, the club was hit by an unexp e c t e d setback o n l y f i v e days before the kick-off to the Premier League season two weeks ago.
Amsalem stunningly announced his resignation, shocking even his good friend Kornfein.
“David Amsalem’s announcement caught me by complete surprise,” Kornfein said. “Beyond the fact that David was the coach of the team, he has also been a personal friend of mine for the past 20 years. This is not an easy day for Beitar Jerusalem.”
Amsalem grew more and more frustrated with every day as his requests to strengthen the squad were turned down by Kornfein for financial reasons, and he decided to quit when he realized that he couldn’t take the pressure that would accompany poor results.
Kornfein approached Israel under-19 coach and Beitar legend Eli Ohana with an offer to replace Amsalem but he refused, and former Hapoel Ramat Gan and Hapoel Petah Tikva coach Yuval Naim eventually took charge two weeks ago.
Beitar was scheduled to visit Hapoel Beersheba in its league opener on August 20, but the match was postponed due to the security situation in the South, a blessing in disguise for the team because it gave Naim a few more days to get to know his squad.
Beitar eventually began its season last Saturday, and its fans were pleasantly surprised to see their side claim an impressive 3-1 win over Hapoel Acre, with 11 of the 14 players products of the club’s youth department.
However, Naim knows difficult days lie ahead, although he is optimistic that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
“We got what we wanted – a young and vibrant team,” Naim said after last Saturday’s win. “If we have patience, we will be able to achieve some nice things here. People were saying before the match that we had a weak squad and didn’t hold a proper training camp, but we are determined to be optimistic.”
The 44-year-old Naim knows all about downfall and redemption. Earlier this summer, he and his friend Ben Cohen were arrested on suspicion of blackmailing Gal Hazor, a former owner of Hapoel Petah Tikva, which Naim coached last season. Both Naim and Hazor denied the claims, and he was quickly released.
“If you told me a year ago that I would be the coach of Beitar Jerusalem, I would never have believed you,” Naim said. “But I proved my worth over the last year, and I promise to give my all to the club.”
With everything that he and Beitar have been thorough recently, he just might be the man for the job.