KARACHI, Aug 22 Former national team assistant coach Nasir Ismail, who was recently sacked by the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) from the position of head coach of the national under-16 football team, has said that he is most disappointed by the federation's harsh treatment towards him.

Nasir was removed from the national assignment by the PFF a day after receiving a two-match suspension in the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) after he indulged in an argument on the field with the match referee during the NBP-Wapda encounter on Aug 18.

Speaking about that incident, Nasir said “What happened there was also unfair. You have this non-technical match commissioner Rashad Mehmood Butt, who is a hockey umpire supervising a football match. If I am arguing with the referee over any of his decisions, which is a normal thing for any coach to do during matches, and if the argument is turning into a heated debate it is the fourth official's job to intervene and cool down things. I also object at the match commissioner stepping in and yelling at me to shut up and sit down.”

Nasir added “Football is my life. I'm the country's most-qualified coach. I know all the rules. Usually it is the fourth official's report that is submitted to the federation officials after which a player or team official is punished or forgiven for indiscipline. Even then a senior person like me should have been given a warning or handed a show cause notice before taking such a drastic step. I can live with the two-match suspension but I don't understand PFF's removing me from the national assignment. They didn't even bother to see our manager Abbas Ali's report regarding the incident.

“I can't believe that after having achieved so much internationally, I get fired over a small matter in a domestic match,” said the Licence 'A' coach.

The PFF has replaced Nasir with Mohammad Habib as the head coach of the U-16 team that is currently under training for the forthcoming AFC U-16 Football Championship (Oct 3-18).

Showing his disgust, over PFF's decision, Nasir also resigned from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) AID-27 coaching programme, under which 27 junior coaches here receive a regular salary from the AFC for coaching young football enthusiasts at separate centres all over the country.

“Well, why not?” he asked. “Football is a passion, and not a regular $250 salary job for me. If the PFF does not find me worthy of national assignment, I don't think I want to coach our youth for an AFC salary, too. I have a great job with my department and I enjoy coaching the bank's team. I will only reconsider my resignation after the PFF reconsiders its decision about removing me from the national U-16 team,” he said.

“Whatever happened, happened in the heat of the moment. I haven't misbehaved or said anything against the PFF president or any of the other top officials of the federation and I think Faisal Saleh Hayat's introducing a code of conduct is a good thing. Still you cannot ruin a man's career on the complain of a hockey umpire,” he maintained.