KARACHI, Feb 6 Coach George Kottan's decision to step down from the position of the national football team has triggered a fresh debate about who should be given the responsibility next.
Giving his reaction to former captain Mohammad Essa's preference for the former national team coach Akhtar Mohiuddin while commenting that the AFC License-A coach Nasir Ismail was inexperienced for the job, Nasir said that he was up for the challenge.
“How can anyone even suggest that a man who gives nine hours a day to football could be inexperienced?” asked Nasir. “Akhtar Mohiuddin doesn't even have a department team to coach. He is not involved in domestic football in any way whereas I, besides being a former international player and one of the most-qualified coaches in the country, presently coach the National Bank of Pakistan team and am also an AFC junior coach in the AID-27 programme. I was also attached with the national team in the capacity of assistant coach,” he asserted. “A License-A coach is not a basic coach. He is an advanced-level coach. He doesn't coach amateurs. And for what it's worth, I topped in the course in Sri Lanka,” he added. “As far as experience goes, I am familiar with each and every national player and his game due to my involvement in the annual Pakistan Premier League,” he pointed out.
“It is unfortunate that I have not been tested as national team coach as yet. To the Pakistan Football Federation [PFF], I would say that even if they give me 50 per cent of what they gave George Kottan, I would provide uncountable benefits in return in the form of the team's fine performance,” he said.
“I am aware that the federation has held meetings with several players about who should be made the next coach. But they have to understand that the players shouldn't be given a say in the matter. Players have no right to decide who should be coaching them. Otherwise their choice for coach will have a soft corner for them later while failing to be impartial with the others,” Nasir explained.
Talking about the successful coach from Bahrain, he said “Of course you can't have a better foreign coach than Salman Sharida. That man worked here for free and made us the South Asian Football Federation [SAFF] champions despite that. Either you get someone as selfless as him or you find a sincere and experienced Pakistani coach.”
“The PFF went out of its way to facilitate George Kottan and the man still managed to find fault in one thing or the other. He didn't like our grounds, wasn't happy with our players and went scouting for talent abroad. And now, after spending a year here, he complains about the security situation in Pakistan too,” he concluded.