Former top Thai striker Kiatisuk Senamuang will return to V-League club Hoang Anh Gia Lai as head coach to prepare the team for the 2010 season, club manager Doan Nguyen Duc said on Thursday.

The fact that the Thai star will now coach the squad came as no big surprise to fans and pundits, who had expected HAGL coach Dusit Dalermsan, a former teammate of Kiatisuk’s, to be given his walking papers after the team finished sixth out of 14 clubs in the V-League last season.

HAGL had long been considered a powerhouse club and the handing over of the reigns looks to restore that reputation, local sportscasters said.

“It was natural for Kiatisuk to become the HAGL coach as he is now director of the HAGL Company in Bangkok and just a part-time coach for the Thai League club Chonburi,” said Duc.

“Kiatisuk understands Vietnamese football, so I believe he can be successful like Le Huynh Duc or Nguyen Van Sy.”

Le Huynh Duc lead Da Nang to the V-League title this year while Sy’s Ninh Binh squad finish atop the second-flight First Division and will be promoted to the V-League next season.

Kiatisuk, who was nicknamed Zico of Thailand, was capped 116 times and scored 63 goals for Thailand’s national team from 1993 till 2004.

Before he left HAGL in 2006, he coached the team during the second half of the 2005-2006 season while still a player on the pitch.

Kiatisuk is currently coaching Thai League club Chonburi, who lost 2-4 on aggregate to V-League side Binh Duong in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation Cup 2009.

HAGL players practiced on Saturday and Dusit will still coach the squad until the Thai League finishes next month.

In related news, Nguyen Van Vinh, HAGL’s technical manager, has left the club after a nine-year stint with the team. Vinh, now 67, said he was too old and no longer fit for the competitiveness of the V-League.

Striker Phan Thanh Binh has been transferred to Dong Tam Long An after a slump season. He had moved to HAGL from Dong Thap at the beginning of 2009.

Two foreign players, Cesar Junior and Mane Moustapha, have also had their contracts terminated by HAGL after poor performances this year.

Source: Thanh Nien