Following yesterday’s defeat at the hands of Chongqing Lifan, Beijing Guoan parted ways with manager Joseph Gonzalez. It was Beijing’s fifth loss in 12 games this season.
A statement from the club read: “”Beijing Guoan’s club board has decided that, as of 2 June 2017, Mr. Jose Gonzalez will no longer serve the club as head coach. The Chinese coaching team will take over his responsibilities for the moment.
“Right now our team is in a very difficult situation, but we are confident we can bring it back on track in a very short time. We appreciate the understanding and support from the press and fans.”
He only took over at the start of the campaign after serving as assistant to previous head coach Gregorio Manzano.
The sacking was coming after poor performances since the beginning of the campaign. Beijing’s have just 4 wins this campaign and are 16 points behind leaders Guangzhou Evergrande. They are also way off the Champions League places sitting 9 points behind Hebei China in third place.
Big things were expected from Beijing but they have failed to get into third gear. The club are already looking at replacements as the coaching staff handling things in the meantime. Former Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel is one of the names being looked at though the club secretly agree it is a long shot. Other candidates include David Moyes. Among the other big names, Walter Mazzari and Bob Bradley are also said to be in contention. Jiong Zhu is among the Chinese front runners.
The will definitely be an intriguing situation as it continues to develop with each passing minute. One cannot be sure whether Beijing will trust and up and coming Chinese coach or hire a steady hand with experience at big clubs to guide Beijing into waters yet untested.