Daily Blog
Sunday, 20 December 2009 06:12
Written by Ned Kelly

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Shanghai Shenhua have appointed former Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic as their new manager. No spring chicken at the ripe old age of 74, he's still strutting his stuff like a prize peacock, announcing: "Believe me, I can bring the city what it wants. We will win the domestic title.'' Bold claims by the septuagenarian, taking on a team that finished fifth last season and failed to advance past the group stage of the Asian Champions League.

"Don't worry about my age. I am an ambitious person and I also have high standards for players,'' Blazevic shrugged of the concerns of the doubters, before revealing he will not hesitate in weilding the axe to remove any the deadwood at the underachieving club: "Some players will have to leave if they can't meet my requirements."

Blazevic, who resigned as Bosnia coach last week following their World Cup play-off defeat by Portugal, is pictured here in his days as coach of Croatia, who he led to 3rd place in the 1998 World Cup. By a twist of fate he'll be pitting his wits against his old as assistant at Croatia, Branko Ivankovic, who was appointed as the new coach of 2008 Chinese Super League champions Shandong Luneng earlier in the week.

So can the sorcerer put his apprentice in his place and deliver perenial underachievers Shenhua their first title since 1993? Watch this space...

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