Dalian Aerbin have announced the appointment of Serbian manager Simo Krunic as manager until the end of the 2014 season, replacing interim coach Li Ming at the Jinzhou Stadium.
Krunic, who recently coached Serbian side FK Jagodina to their first ever national title, becomes the sixth manager from the Eastern European country in the CSL. He arrives, though, at an Aerbin side who have been under-performing since a series of major changes over the off-season.
Having performed well in their first season back in the top-flight, Aerbin sought to take advantage of the collapse of former rivals Dalian Shide by bringing in several players from their near neighbours.
Part of the integration process also saw former Shide idol Xu Hong brought in as the new manager of Aerbin, with 2013 manager Aleksander Stanojevic later joining Beijing Guoan. Sadly for Aerbin, just three months later, Xu was handed a five-year ban for his role in previous match-fixing scandals.
Since February, former Chinese international great Li Ming had been installed as interim manager, but the club have taken almost four months to appoint a new coach. With Krunic’s arrival, Li will now return to his role as a club director.
