[Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2010]
KARACHI: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has dismissed the possibility of hiring a foreign coach after their request for financial assistance was rejected by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). The PFF was considering hiring former Tottenham Hotspur player Graham Roberts as a full-time coach after his short stint with the team as a coaching consultant before the Asian Games.
However, the PFF Secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi said the appointment will not be discussed in the body’s executive committee meeting (ECM) being held today.
“We’ve given up hopes of a foreign coach’s appointment,” Lodhi told The Express Tribune. “We don’t have enough funds and since our requests are being ignored, there is no point in discussing the appointment.”
Pakistan are looking forward to the next year where they will feature in high profile events like the Asian Qualifiers for London Olympics in February and March. The AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers are the other major events to be contested by the national team in 2011. “We’re aware of next year’s importance but we might have to rely on local coaches,” said Lodhi.
The PFF felt that players will miss the skills of Roberts. “We’d have loved him in our dug-out but things are not going in our way.”
Meanwhile, Lodhi added the ECM will mainly focus on projects including the Fifa Goal Projects in Karachi and Peshawar besides discussing holding more national tournaments next year.
PFF got more publicity and media attention worldwide and nationwide because of Graham’s 8 weeks of being used as some Akhtar Mohiuddin side-kick than it ever did in last 8 years of Faisal Saleh Hayat supposed glory rule!
And yet the people who share the responsibility of these disasters dont seem to ever have the common courtesy to resign and leave football!
haha this is totally stupid, if i am given a post in the PFF i promise you i will get sponsors cover 100% of his pay. But then again ill have to give sponsors something in return and that will mean getting out of my ac/heater room in the PFF house, OUCH!
Very disappointed to say the least :(
Very very sad…
after all we’ve been after, this is what we get to hear in the end.
Its a shame… atleast they should appoint someone good/better than Akhtar if they are to keep a local coach.
pakistani people all over the world are dissapointed.all the corrupt officals in the pff must resign.the team showed alot of improvement under robert during the asioan games. ……f u
Its a shame to our football…the oficials are talking abt our team to feature in world cup2014….in olympics…etc…but to feature in these big tournaments we need a good, well experienced coach…and our federation doesn’t even care about dat….atleast they shud give graham roberts more salary….and if they talk about funds…I TOTALLY DISAGREE WID THIS….its not that we dont have funds….we have funds…but all the funds are either waisted or they go into the pockets of our corrupt people sitting in the federation….The first step to improve our football….shud be to stop corruption in football…and to appoint a good and well experienced coach!!!
If we keep on going like this corupted , then inshalaah INDIA one day wil walk away with a mayor soccer title and pakistanies and pakistan soccer and sports oficials wil hide more their heads in missery, when the world is going to congradulate INDIA with that great victory because they are thinking forward for INDIA soccer instead Pakistan is thinking back words !!! and that is so wrong. !!!
Every country in the world knows if you want to become a great atleast reasonable compeating soccer country with the rest of the world, you need Mony and you need to invest in it and 100 procent the goverment
sport ministries must be behind it.
Its not like the political games we are used to play wit criket or hockey thats diffrent but soccer is a nother world if you play with soccer political games like that then you are doomed and world soccer and fifa can only do one thing with you after that and that is when they hair the name of pakistan then they spit on us and point their heads the other side. if you cant even pay a simple coach like Sir Graham who brings verry important new skils from european top/club teams state of the art for the pakistanie boys !!!
from wich this would have been the key to succes !!! but the key pakistan is trowing away in the form of Sir graham. what wil pakistan show on these qualifqation tournements now. because if you dont have european style soccer you can forget it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! looke at korea GUUS HIDINK EUROPE, SAOEDI ARABIA LEO BEEN HAKKER EUROPE , JAPAN EUROPE COACH ETC.ETC.
Pakistan will certainly show odd in these qualifiers. Pakistan is currently at 167 n what you can expect from coaches of 167th grade maximum maximum160 or 157 or even more below from this.. Paksitan has been a champion nation in Hockey and Cricket and is always among top 10 and still we believe we need foreign coaches for these teams (as hokey showed come back with foreign coach). then what the hell they want to do with football.????
Ok if so, Wapda has showed clear and great performance this year, what about hiring a new local coach.?
our officials are useless and are only concerned with MONEY….nothin else….