BFF ready to axe coach

Bangladesh national footballers gather at the BFF Bhaban yesterday ahead of their trip to Tajikistan to play the 2010 World Cup pre-qualifier.Photo: STAR

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) will wait for the result of Bangladesh's 2010 World Cup pre-qualifier on October 28 against Tajikistan before deciding the fate of Indian coach Syed Nayeemuddin.
The national team, which drew 1-1 with Tajikistan in the home match on October 8, left Dhaka yesterday afternoon for Bangkok en route to Dushanbe.
After staying overnight in Uzbekistan capital Tashkent, they are expected to take bus ride today before boarding a flight for neighbouring Tajikistan.
Following press reports that the match could be the last for Nayeemuddin as Bangladesh national coach, BFF's acting general secretary Manzoor Hossain Malu yesterday admitted that the federation is considering to bid the former Indian international and two-time SAFF Football winning coach goodbye.
"We recruited Nayeemuddin with a view to prepare the national team for the SAFF Championship, which was due to be held in December. After its deferral to June next year, we have a long time in hand. Considering the high cost of running the camp, we cannot afford to have a foreign coach for about eight months.
"We also have to consider that the players will have to be released for the domestic season with the National Championship and the second professional league on the cards," said Malu.
He informed that the cost of running the camp is Tk 12 lakh per month, inclusive of the coach's salary -- Tk one lakh.
The BFF has been sweating over the expenses -- reportedly Tk 70 lakh -- of the home and away pre-qualifying matches for the World Cup in South Africa and it seems that they would dissolve camp as soon as the team return.
If Bangladesh reach the qualifiers by upsetting favourites Tajikistan, the federation, however, will have to think differently.
"If we have to play the second stage of the qualifiers, we have no other option to run the camp," said Malu, who did not sound that convincing about keeping Nayeem.
"That's why we have been waiting for the result," he told adding that the BFF has already discussed the Nayeemuddin issue following his row with senior players.
"He has also humiliated our staff and it is certainly damaging to the BFF's image. If things go beyond control, we can't keep him. We have requested the coach to 'behave'," the acting secretary said.
He, however, did not mention whether the 60-year-old Indian would be chopped immediately after the team's return.
"His contract expires in December but it can be terminated at any time. Still, we want it to happen smoothly if it comes to that."
It is nothing new for Bangladesh, unlike any other nation, to remain without a coach for the national team for long periods.
Previously, SAF Games winning coach Samir Shakir and SAFF Championship triumphant George Kottan of Austria were shown the doors immediately after success. Argentine coach Diego Cruciani was also let go, after 13 months in charge, before Nayeemuddin came as a saviour.
If the Indian -- the least expensive of foreigners to have coached Bangladesh -- leaves now, it is understandable that the federation will go for a face saving recruit shortly before the SAFF Championship, killing any hopes of success in the regional event by starting it all over again.