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Former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz has been appointed as the head coach of the Qatar national team.
He has replaced Félix Sánchez whose contract expired on December 31st following the country’s hosting of the World Cup.
Sánchez, a Catalonian and former coach at La Masia, had been involved in Qatari football for 17 years.
Queiroz worked as Sir Alex Ferguson’s right hand man for five years, helping the club to succeed in one of its greatest trophy laden periods.
The Portuguese briefly interrupted his career at United when he took over Real Madrid as manager for the 2002/3 season before returning to the Old Trafford dugout.
He eventually left the club permanently after the 2008 Champions League victory.
The 69-year-old has since had a prominent bout in the international managerial scene, coaching Portugal (again), Iran (twice), Colombia, and Egypt.
Prior to his time spent assisting Alex Ferguson, Queiroz also led the Portugal, United Arab Emirates, and South Africa national teams.
Queiroz’s best managerial record (66.18%) comes from his time leading Sporting Lisbon in the early nineties, whilst he is also recognised for his work in guiding Iran to three World Cup finals tournaments.
Outside of his esteemed coaching pedigree, Queiroz can be remembered for his frosty interactions with at-the-time captain Roy Keane.
Keane has alleged in his autobiography that his dramatic exit from United in 2005 ultimately stemmed from frosty interactions with Queiroz and Ferguson.
These eventually grew into a frenzied argument between the aforementioned parties following the notorious ‘destroyed’ MUTV video.
Keane details in his book, The Second Half:
“He was just on my right shoulder; how I didn’t f*cking hit him again – I was thinking, ‘The villa in Portugal, not treating me well in training – and he just used the word “loyalty” to me,’” said Keane.
“I said, ‘Don’t you f*cking talk to me about loyalty, Carlos. You left this club after 12 months a few years ago for the Real Madrid job. Don’t you dare question my loyalty. I had opportunities to go to Juventus and Bayern Munich.’ And while we’re at it we spoke about training downstairs. And were just on about mixing things up in training a bit.”
Keane claims that at this point Ferguson stepped in, “That’s enough. I’ve had enough of all this,” leading the Irishman to spit back, “You as well gaffer. We need fucking more from you. We need a bit more, gaffer. We’re slipping behind other teams.”
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