Friday, June 09, 2017
Liestadi Bites Bullet After Away Losses
In Malaysia the done thing used to be to send coaches on gardening leave when results didn't go their team's way. I guess the idea was to isolate the coach, make him think on the error of his ways and then, ultimately, resign. A slow, inefficient way of running a football club but think of the savings on paying off contracts.
Way too labourious for Indonesia. Rather than wait to be sacked, coaches are now voluntarily offering to resign themselves. None of this faffing around in the garden pruning the roses, suffer a couple of bad results and that's it. Out of the kindest of their hearts they decide to step down.
Persipura's Liestadi is the latest coach to fall on his own sword, stepping down after successive away defeats at PSM and Madura United. The top two sides in the country.
The Black Pearls are fifth in Liga 1 after 10 games, just four points behind leaders PSM and, it goes without saying, unbeaten at home all season. However they have been less impressive on their travels, losing four of their six games and perhaps the club feel, sorry the coach feels a new face on the training field could help th eteam improve on their travels.
Following the loss in Madura club management apparently asked the media office to talk with Liestadi about evaluating the team, a common enough occurrence in Indonesian football. The media officer replied by saying the coach had announced he had resigned in the wake of the loss in Madura and also Makassar.
The official went to to wish Liestadi good luck in the future and din't rule out the possibility of working together in the future.
For the inquisitive out there so many questions remain. For those used to the mysterious ways of Indonesian football it's just another shoulder shrugging moment.
# posted by Me @ 9:16 AM 
