Santos name new coach

Cape Town - Dutch coach Mart Nooij has been named by struggling Cape Town club Santos as their new coach as they bid to stem their possible slide out of the Premier Soccer League with just five games left this season.

He has signed a contract until 2014 and says he will stay with the club whether they are relegated or not.

Duncan Crowie, who has been acting as caretaker coach since before Christmas, will assist him.

Nooij is the former coach of Mozambique who had been linked with Santos since they fired Boebie Solomons in December.

But initial talks had fallen through only to be resurrected as a string of defeats has plunged the 2002 champions into a deep relegation quagmire.

Santos’ 1-0 home loss to SuperSport United on Wednesday extended to six games their winless run in the league and left them firmly in the bottom two.

Nooij started his African adventure almost a decade ago as an instructor with the Dutch federation, working in Burkina Faso before moving to Mozambique.

He took the Burkinabe under-20 side to the world youth championships in the United Arab Emirates in 2003 but Mozambique was his first senior job.

He was under the threat of dismiss after a slow start but then became a hero after Mozambique qualified in the 2010 for the African Nations Cup finals for the first time in more than decade.

But when Mozambique flopped in the 2012 qualifiers, losing to both Zambia and Libya, he was fired.

Nooij has a policy of attacking football in the Dutch tradition. “Whoever is afraid, has to stay with Mama at home,” is one of his favourite expressions.

Nooij was one of the coaches that Ajax Cape Town interviewed to replace Foppe de Haan at the end of last season.