Al Ahli coach Aitken: Why I left Birmingham

Former Birmingham City coach Roy Aitken has explained why he chose to leave.

Aitken, 51, opted to make the break from Blues and link up with David O’Leary at ambitious Dubai side Al Ahli.

A financially-rewarding move to the UAE, of course, he admits.

But Aitken, who successfully fought prostate cancer a few years ago, insists it was also a ‘lifestyle’ choice.

“Dave obviously got the job in Dubai. He asked me what my situation was at Birmingham," he told the Sunday Mercury. “I was negotiating a new deal, but I hadn’t signed it. Talks had been going on for a few months.

“I was confident we were going to get to an agreement but the offer that was made to me, in light of speaking to Birmingham, was fantastic.

“The lifestyle offer, in a sense of I knew what I was going to, was important.

“I worked out there ten years ago and I knew the club.

“Alex McLeish said he understood where I was coming from, that I could keep the family together over there and still have a football challenge. They were in the Asian Champions League last year, and finished poorly, and the club has been putting together a very much British infrastructure, with British coaches and medical staff, linked in with all the local people.

“The chairman, who I know from my previous spell out there, is driving the club forward."

 
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