Maradona proving controversial figure as coach of UAE's Al Wasl

The Austrian coach of UAE club Al Wahda Josef Hickersberger said in January that if he had been in the same position as his opposite number at Al Wasl then he would have been fired before admitting with a smile ... "I am not Diego Maradona." Maradona is different, just as he always was. As a player, he could do things that nobody else could and on the other side of the white line in the desert of the United Arab Emirates, he is doing things that most other coaches could not get away with.Just over three months since his first season kicked off, he has already: publicly criticized the board, been publicly criticized by a senior player, made eyes at other jobs, been fined by the league for remarks about another coach, kicked a supporter, had kidney stones removed and if that wasn't painful enough, he has taken an ambitious club on a mediocre run of results. Despite all that, he has not only survived in perhaps the most trigger-happy league in the world, he is now being linked with the national team job.