With the team currently 16th in the 2023/24 Liga 1 Indonesia table, Persebaya Surabaya has made the decision to rest head coach Aji Santoso following their embarrassing 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Persikabo 1973 on Friday.
Despite being no strangers to a slow start to a season, Persebaya’s poor run of form at the beginning of the 2023/24 campaign was so dire, head coach Aji was given an ultimatum – earn seven points from Persebaya’s next three matches against Persikabo, Bhayangkara FC, and Persita Tangerang, and his position will be safe for the time being.
However, by losing 2-1 to the Laskar Padjadjaran, that goal of seven points from three games became practically impossible to achieve, leaving Aji’s position untenable.
Replacing Aji to oversee Persebaya’s matches against Bhayangkara and Persita will be club legend Uston Nawawi, with the fate of former Arema FC man Aji to be decided after the Persita game.
News of Aji’s “gardening leave” was met by shock by both former and current Persebaya players, who all sent their support towards the embattled head coach. Injured captain Ze Valente even expressed his regret of him being unable to be there for his team when they needed him the most due to his condition.
A number of names have been linked with the Bajul Ijo to fill in the club’s head coach position should Aji gets the boot, among them former Persib Bandung gaffer Mario Gomez, Brunei Darussalam technical director Paul Munster, former Persik Kediri boss Divaldo Alves, and former Arema Indonesia, Sarawak FA, PSM Makassar and Persib head coach Robert Rene Alberts.