Name Temur Ketsbaia Years Team | Height 1.76 m Role Footballer | |
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Date of birth (1968-03-18) 18 March 1968 (age 47) Teams coached APOEL FC (Head coach, since 2015), Georgia national football team (Head coach, 2009–2014) Similar People Kakhaber Tskhadadze, Hector Cuper, Alain Giresse | ||
Temur ketsbaia
Temuri "Temur" Ketsbaia (Georgian: თემურ ქეცბაია; born 18 March 1968) is a Georgian retired footballer and a current manager.
Contents
- Temur ketsbaia
- Popular Videos Temur Ketsbaia
- Club career
- Managerial career
- International goals
- Managerial statistics
- As a player
- As a manager
- References
As a player, he represented the Georgian national team and played for Dinamo Tbilisi, Anorthosis, AEK Athens, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Dundee.
Popular Videos - Temur Ketsbaia
Club career
After beginning his professional career in 1987 in his native Georgia with Dinamo Tbilisi, Ketsbaia then played for Cypriot side Anorthosis, and Greek giants AEK Athens. He ran down his contract in the Greek capital and arrived at St James' Park and Newcastle United on a free transfer in 1997. Early in his career with The Magpies, Ketsbaia scored a goal in extra time against Croatia Zagreb, ensuring a place for Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.
In England, he is remembered for his celebration after scoring a last-minute winner against Bolton Wanderers in 1998, in which he took off his jersey and kicked the advertising hoardings. He stated that this was to relieve his frustration at being kept out of the Newcastle starting line-up.
Although he was considered something of a 'cult hero' by Newcastle fans, he was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2000, and also played for Dundee, among others.
On 30 June 2007, Ketsbaia announced his retirement from professional football. His last match before retiring was held on 14 July.
In May 2015, Ketsbaia played for Dundee versus Crystal Palace as part of Julián Speroni's testimonial match, along with former Dundee players Georgi Nemsadze, Juan Sara, Fabián Caballero and Luis Alberto Carranza.
Managerial career
On 28 September 2008, he stated his interest for the vacant Newcastle manager position. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, he said: "I had a great opportunity to play at Newcastle as a player, so why not as a manager?"
In the week before the match club directors had gone to the police complaining of financial irregularities being carried out by the club President who was forced to resign, despite support from Ketsbaia and club supporters.
In April 2009, Ketsbaia stood down as coach of Anorthosis. On 25 May 2009 the chairman of Olympiacos announced that Ketsbaia had been appointed the club's manager on a three-year deal, replacing Ernesto Valverde; however, on 15 September 2009, Ketsbaia and Olympiacos parted company following early criticism from the club's supporters, despite Olympiakos not conceding a goal during his tenure.
In November 2009 he was announced as manager of the Georgian national side, which he represented 49 times as a player. He claimed that while he could not promise a major tournament in the near future, the team would fight to reach one.
In January 2015, Ketsbaia once again declared his interest in taking over the vacant manager job at Newcastle United, after Alan Pardew moved on to Crystal Palace, however, John Carver was appointed in a temporary position instead.
On 28 August 2015, Ketsbaia agreed terms with reigning Cypriot champions APOEL, signing a two-year contract with the club and replacing Domingos Paciência who was fired earlier at the same day. On 21 April 2016, one day after APOEL's elimination in the Cypriot Cup semi-finals by Apollon Limassol, Ketsbaia's contract with APOEL was terminated, although at that moment the team were four points clear at the top of the league with only four matches remaining.
On 6 June 2016, Ketsbaia took over the management at Greek powerhouse AEK Athens, a club he played for until 1996, on a two-year contract. His overall defensive managing mentality prevented the club from playing exciting football. On 19 October 2016, two weeks after a heavy away 3-0 defeat to Olympiacos, the AEK board decided to terminate Ketsbaia's contract with immediate effect, something that Ketsbaia attributed to a premeditated sacking plan by the board, which amongst others involved slanderous press publications targeting Ketsbaia. The Georgian manager, apparently disturbed by the 'unlawful behaviour' of the club's administration in the employment termination process, decided to file a lawsuit on 10 December 2016 demanding a sum of approximately £350k to be shared among him and his backroom staff. In an interview for the Cypriot branch of Alpha TV, Ketsbaia accused the Greek sport journalism sector of deliberately misrepresenting true facts in favour of certain teams and board members, and AEK of underestimating his managerial abilities for no apparent reason; he even added that certain AEK board members were hoping for a loss against Larisa in order to justify his imminent sacking.
On 1 June 2017, he was hired as the manager of the Russian club FC Orenburg. On 17 August 2017, he was dismissed by the club after 8 games with the team in 13th position in the standings.