Ardiles leaves Beitar coaching job after five months

JERUSALEM, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Israeli Premier League side Beitar Jerusalem have parted company with Argentine coach Osvaldo Ardiles and named former club goalkeeper and Ashdod SC manager Yossi Mizrahi in his place on Thursday.

Big-spending Beitar agreed a one-year contract with Ardiles in May but their failure to advance in the UEFA Cup and erratic results, which nevertheless see the club occupy second place in the league on goal difference, were Ardiles's downfall.

'I offered him (Ardiles) to be the manager, but he declined... we now have a new coach and let's look to the future,' Beitar chairman Vladimir Shklar told Israel Radio.

According to local media reports, Ardiles wanted to continue working on his own and would not agree to share responsibilities with another coach below him or alongside him.

Shklar said that despite the good results and the club's relatively healthy position in the standings, Beitar had played 'disappointingly' in their last two matches.

'We want to be champions, we want to play attractive and attacking football and we don't want to disappoint our fans,' he added.

Mizrahi, who was Beitar's iconic goalkeeper in the 1970s and 80s and served as assistant to former Israel coach Avraham Grant, takes charge of the club for the third time.

Ardiles is the first coaching casualty of the Israeli league this season. He replaced Frenchman Luis Fernandez at the end of the last campaign when Beitar finished in third place.

Beitar were bought last year by Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaydamak in a move likened in Israel to Roman Abramovich's purchase of English club Chelsea in 2003.

Gaydamak has vowed to make Beitar a force in Europe with no expense spared.