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KARACHI: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Tuesday removed Gohar Zaman from his post as Pakistan’s assistant coach and manager for neglecting his duties.
“Gohar had a very casual approach towards his work and we have sidelined him for now to make way for someone more responsible,” explained PFF secretary Col (retd) Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi while speaking to Dawn on Tuesday.
The federation secretary cited recent events where Gohar’s slack attitude had cost the team.
During the recently-concluded practice tour of Thailand, four players, namely, Kaleemullah, Mohammad bin Younis, Junaid Qadir and Faisal Iqbal, missed the U-22 team’s first match against Army United FC that Pakistan lost 0-3 as they were unable to obtain their visas in time for the match.
According to Lodhi, the delay in visas was not as big an issue as the validity of the players’ passports was.
“It is not the players’ job to know if their passports are valid or not,” he said.
“Gohar knew the passports were expiring soon but ignored that saying that since they hadn’t expired as yet, the Thai embassy may issue the visas.
“Of course they didn’t do that until the players had got new passports issued to them.
“Gohar’s own passport, though, was valid but as a punishment we prevented him from touring Thailand.”
Lodhi lamented the fact that Gohar’s carelessness had resulted in the loss to Army United FC while adding that it was good that the PFF had been fore-warned.
“We could have won that match had the boys, including our captain Kaleemullah and vice-captain Faisal Iqbal been playing too,” he said.
“This was just a practice tour. What if it were a final match in a FIFA tournament that the players had missed? Casual attitude can be a big problem. It has to be discouraged so we took action.”
Ahmad Yar Lodhi, however, added that the decision was taken purely to protect the interests of Pakistan football.
“We have nothing personal against Gohar. He is a good boy, we like him. Hopefully, this would help him pull up his socks and he won’t take things so lightly again,” Lodhi said.
Regarding Gohar’s replacement, Lodhi said that although Pakistan coach Zavisa Milosavljevic had things under control, the Serbian has his own work to tend to and it wouldn’t be long before the PFF decides on who fills in his shoes.
“We would prefer someone who could do more than just working as a manager,” Lodhi said. “If he is a junior coach, he can benefit from working with Zavisa.”
Despite repeated attempts, Gohar was not available for comment.
