When the Al Wasl club of Dubai and the UAE Pro League announced in June that they had hired Diego Maradona to be their coach … I wrote that “this will not be dull.”

Got that one right. But that was shooting fish in a barrel.

El Diego, FIFA’s co-player of the century (with Pele), is never dull. He is always fighting with someone, complaining about the inequities or this, that or the other (all as they apply to him, of course), and the status quo is never good.

Referees are out to get him (yes, even in the UAE), the league has a problem with him (like all leagues) and he doesn’t have enough money to buy good players.

Anyway, he has been making news all season at Al Wasl, and we at The National feel compelled to cover every game Wasl plays — even though they are not contenders for any of the major domestic trophies. We cover Wasl just to see what Diego will do.

The latest: He went into the stands after the game against Al Shabab tonight because, he said, Shabab fans were insulting his girlfriend (the blonde woman with the long hair).

Our man on the scene, Ahmed Rizvi, found himself writing about off-the-pitch action, which is often the case when dealing with Maradona and Wasl.

Here is the story he filed … on severe deadline.

I’m going to write more about this for The National, but some quick observations.

–Nothing good can come of going in the stands. Ever. (Ask Ron Artest/Metta World Peace.) It shows a lack of self-control on Maradona’s part, and may warrant some sanction by the league. So, perhaps some Shabab fans said things to his girlfriend. Big deal. Fans in the UAE will not attack a woman. It will not happen. And this was in the VIP section of the stadium, too.  It’s laughable to suggest that Veronica Ojeda or her two female companions were ever in any danger.

–The Wasl club has to be weighing whether the notoriety of Maradona as coach is worth the hassle. This is twice in three weeks that a Wasl game has ended with police escorting Wasl people out of a stadium. The previous incident came after Wasl’s goalkeeper, Majed Naser, snuck up on the Al Ahli coach Quique Sanchez Flores and bopped him on the back of the head.

Anyway, Wasl has 24 points after 17 league games. A year ago they had 26 points. The team has regressed with Maradona as coach.

–Maradona is such a volatile guy that he doesn’t seem to really recognize how well he’s got things at Wasl. You can be sure he is paid well, has a big comfy Dubai mansion to live in and probably was given a batch of domestics, including a driver. But he complains regularly, picks fights with other clubs and now is going into the stands, making an unpleasant situation markedly worse.

–Does Al Wasl want to be famous or infamous? The club needs to figure this out. There is a difference. Al Wasl officials and fans like to think they are famous, but Diego has generated more infamy than fame. They are no better, on the field. They don’t appear likely to win anything anytime soon. And they keep getting noticed for stuff off the field, not on it. Aside from the post-match slap the goalkeeper gave Quique; he was on the field, even if the game was over.

Maradona has been involved with something unpleasant, with harsh words flying, nearly on a weekly basis.

This would not appear to be sustainable for a soccer club that takes themselves seriously, and Wasl does. They may want to put Diego back on a plane to Buenos Aires.