Inside Precision FC - why Dubai third-tier team are signing ex-Man Utd stars and EFL legends
Ravel Morrison last week joined Precision FC in the biggest statement signing made so far by British owned club in UAE's third tier who count Harry Arter and Joel Lynch in their ranks
by Alan Smith · The MirrorRavel Morrison was turning up to casual kickabouts with friends in Dubai when the chance to join an upstart club in UAE’s third tier arrived.
It is two years this week since the former Manchester United prodigy last started a meaningful game.
But when Morrison heard about Precision FC, a British-owned club embarking on their second season, he asked manager and founder Sonny Cobbs if there was space left in a squad packed with veterans including Matt Lowton and Harry Arter.
Morrison came off the bench for his debut last Friday in a 4-3 defeat to Elite Falcons, a game that featured 13 British and Irish players.
And, as Cobbs says, Morrison’s arrival is a “landmark moment” for a club that has ambitions to “become a movement” and eventually compete in the Asian Champions League.
They may not have existed when Morrison made his final appearance for DC United - but for Cobbs Precision FC is the fruition of more than a decade of work.
Twelve years ago Cobbs followed his sister, who was working for Emirates, to Dubai and he spotted a gap in the market. A former Brighton youth team captain, he had already decided coaching was his future after slipping down the leagues. And he soon noticed that the infrastructure in the UAE was ripe for investment.
“I wanted to play abroad and ended up in Beirut. But when I went to Dubai I dedicated myself to coaching,” he says. “I felt Dubai was 10 or 20 years behind the UK so I wanted to create this new centre to give people opportunities.”
Plans have snowballed from there. Cobbs, who has received significant investment from unnamed UK property investors, has spent £10m on a training facility he claims is among the best in the Middle East.
Luke Shaw and Ross Barkley have visited for off-season workouts, while Wolves and Southampton youth teams have checked in.
It features cutting-edge technology and, crucially, a bar and restaurant for new fans to socialise during games in a league that is ordinarily being watched by a handful of friends and family.
Cobbs says the first team is just one part of the wider project – but it is the element capturing attention.
The aim is promotion again this season and he has already scoped out land to build a new stadium. “The players aren’t getting paid huge amounts of money,” he adds. “They are here because they love it, because they're enjoying it.”
Skipper Joel Lynch, who played alongside Cobbs at Brighton’s academy and quit the final year of his contract at Crawley to become Precision’s first signing, backs that claim up.
“I feel like I’ve seen everything in football, the ups and downs and different characters,” he says. “But this has been from scratch. It’s been like a big, fun game for us. It’s so exciting, so fast-moving.
“Ultimately we’re here to win. It’s strict and professional but I want a dressing room environment where players want to come in and work hard.”
And Morrison, Lynch adds, has immediately embraced that culture. “He has his own story of missed potential and a lot of things (have been) said about him. But get him on his own and he’s quite a shy kid.
“He had the world at his feet but the pressure of being him. He’s made mistakes, done some wrong things in his career. But we all have. He’s had a weight on his shoulders. We want him to enjoy himself.
“But I’m trying to avoid him in training because he has the skill to embarrass you. He can twist you all over the place. It’s brilliant, great to watch.”
Precision’s British and Irish players: Harry Arter, Jamal Bartley, Joel Boung, Aidan Finnegan, Max Johnstone, Matt Lowton, Joel Lynch, Callum Morris, Ravel Morrison, Ben Pringle, Will Richards, Emmanuel Sonupe, Jamie Ward, Levi Woolley.
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