New Delhi: Igor Stimac’s tendency to deflect blame towards the All India Football Federation for India’s drop in performance made his position as the national team’s head coach ‘unsustainable’, particularly after players expressed their reservations over his style of functioning and tactical nuance.
The AIFF sacked Stimac on Monday after he failed in his promise to guide India to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers, offering him three months of salary as compensation.
Stimac has rejected the proposal, demanding to be paid in full as per his contract till June 26, and threatened to file a complaint for “unilateral, unjust and unprofessional” termination of contract for “unjust cause” at a FIFA tribunal.
The federation had earlier claimed the absence of ‘termination clause’ in his contract was an impediment for sacking him without paying a heft severance fee.
But as reported by News9 Sports on March 30 and acknowledged by the AIFF in their exhaustive rebuttal of Stimac’s charges on Monday, his contract did have “certain clauses for termination” when it was extended for two years from January 2024, raising his salary from $24,000 to $30,000 from February 2024 to January 2025 and $40,000 from Feb 2025 to June 2026.
Though the federation said that “specific instructions regarding inserting termination clauses favourable to AIFF were also not followed before executing the contract”, yet he was sacked with “just cause and in compliance with the terms of the contract, offering him a 3 months’ severance fee”.
Concerns raised by players
The AIFF, while shocked to note dependence on an astrologer for selections, also noted that he was given a free hand in selection of players and support staff but his questionable decisions left a lot to be desired as apprehensive players expressed their concernsseveral times.
News9 Sports had reported on March 31 how the coach became a party to player power rather than stamping his authority in the dressing room had contributed to India’s doomed AFC Asian Cup and Fifa World Cup qualifying campaigns.
“His selection of support staff had also gone unquestioned and was the subject of disquiet among many players. Despite all the support, the coach always sought to deflect blame and according to him everything and everyone else was wrong and responsible for any given situation except himself,” the AIFF said in its official communique that came 72 hours after Stimac volleyed a series of allegations towards president Kalyan Chaubey in particular.
AIFF Statement.
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“This sentiment was also shared by various players who had brought their concerns regarding Mr. Stimac’s coaching style and tactics to the attention of the AIFF on multiple occasions.”
Stimac’s accusations, the AIFF deduced, were made intentionally to malign and isn’t a model professional behaviour, having worked for five years in India and getting “full support”.
His slippery conduct has convinced the federation that firing him was the “right decision” tht was made with “just cause” taken in the interests of Indian football.
‘Misleading’
The AIFF insisted its clarification wasn’t done with the intention of entering into a “debate” or “indulge in a series of responses and counter-allegations”, though they did exactly that, reminding how he was given “full autonomy to function, including selections of venues, support staff, choice of travel days”.
The national body even admitted failure to provide chartered flights as promised for the team’s travel to Abha, Saudi Arabia to face Afghanistan in a World Cup qualifier while dismissing Stimac’s “misleading” and “exaggerated” allegations of working without GPS vests for 200 days, saying the team was without those for “approximately 50 days of training and match play due to their unfortunate loss in checked-in baggage”.
The Croat coach was also accused of intentionally misrepresenting facts to gain “sympathy” and “denigrating” the federation from other nation’s coaches and the AFC National Coaches Conference in Malaysia in May and not disclosing that he wasn’t medically fit to coach after undergoing a heart surgery, instead blaming the AIFF for it.
“It is ironic that someone who was the prime person controlling the fortunes of the national team considers that Indian football is imprisoned and has not grown. It is fashionable to blame the entire system on the way out, especially when you do not wish to take any personal responsibility,” the AIFF observed in its official communique.
The AIFF sacked Igor Stimac after he failed in his promise to guide India to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers, offering him three months of salary as compensation, which he has refused to accept. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
