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’Salahuddin is surrounded by sharks’
The Daily Star Sport (DSS): So Dido, let us start with the question on everyone's lips, what exactly happened in the lead up to the decision to relieve you of your duties as coach of the Bangladesh national team?
Edson Silva (Dido): Initially I submitted my squad list to the National Team Management Committee (NTMC). They asked me why I had not included some 'experienced' players in the team, indicating specifically to the players that I had sacked. 1 told them that it was nothing personal with the players, and that they were left out either because they were not in form or did not fit my playing philosophy. They seemed content at my explanations and that was when they called the press in for me to announce the team. But even then, I had an inclination that there was something amiss, and some people were plotting behind.
DSS: What happened after you announced the squad?
Dido: The night after the squad was announced, 1 got a call from Badal Roy at around 8, while 1 was having my dinner. He told me that the press was not happy with my squad and that an emergency meeting was going to be held. He also told me: talk to 'your president [Kazi Salahuddin). 1 told him that it was surprising that they would call an emergency meeting at press criticism. However I got in touch with Mr Salahuddin immediately and informed him that this was my final squad. There would be no changes. I also told him to communicate to me whatever he decided after the meeting.
DSS:... this was the meeting that eventually led to your sacking?
Dido: Yes, although ironically. I did not find out about my sacking through the BFE I never got the call. A journalist gave me the news. It was out in the press even before I knew it. But I cannot say I was not expecting it.
DSS: Why so?
Dido: Well the issue of autonomy in terms of squad selection had been a stumbling block for a long time. In a tribe you cannot find two chiefs. In that regard, the NTMC's role was suboptimal. In the national team, the coach is the one who has the say as far as team matters are concerned. I cannot compromise on that. I made it very clear from the start. Either 1 have full autonomy over the selection of players or 1 am out.
DSS:...that ri gid?
Dido: Of course! It's a question of ethics you see. If you have no control over what you do, then you aren't doing anything. If you have no control over your work then it isn't a job worth doing. And in this case, if 1 couldn t do tilings my way, then it was no way at all.
DSS:... and the NTMC was not comfortable with your autonomy?
Dido: For this you have to go back to the first crisis in July. Badal Roy and his committee members had been plotting since then on, and this time they succeeded. In July, when Salahuddin stepped in to mediate the crisis, they didn't interfere with the president's decision. Butl knew they were plotting something. Maybe they were even plotting from before. The whole situation started when Rajani stopped training and said that it was unbearable. It's a joke. Rajani is the fittest player in the squad. How can he find something unbearable when others are fine with it? At the end it was easy for them since they knew that when I say something I stick to my word. They have succeeded too, Dido is now out. However, what they don t realise is that ultimately, the real loser is football.
DSS: So the NTMC was always a thorn in your side?
Dido: Ever since July. When I sacked the players and made them train separately, Badal Roy, Biplob [Bhattachariya] and Manik [assistant coach Shafiqul Islam] were trying to form cliques. They’ kept calling other players asking them to join
the rebels. This blew the whole thing into crisis proportions. My captain Aminul received numerous phone calls to join the other players. But if you want an example of a respectable man it's Aminul. He stuck by the coach. Badal Roy has been intrusive to the extent of appointing Manik not just to be my assistant coach, but also as a spy on my private life who reports on what I do outside ol football.
DSS: So have you tried speaking to Badal Roy about it?
Dido: It's impossible to have a private conversation with him. Go to his room in the federation and see how he administers things. I Ie may have been a famous player in Bangladesh but that doesn't make him a big administrator. There is no privacy or rules in his room and there arc journalists all over the place. Many times he has asked me for things that I have already given him which has been lost in the clutter of his desk.
DSS:So administration is a problem in BIT?
Dido: This is the worst administered place I have worked in my life. I have never seen a federation that is effectively run by people from clubs, which is ironic considering the poor club structure in Bangladesh. Salahuddin is a very good man and someone who is willing, for the love of the game, to make reforms in football. But I fear he will only burn his years, because he is surrounded by sharks. Surrounded by people who, without the federation, have no life. These are people who will have no space, if development truly arrives in Bangladesh.
DSS:... and Is Salahuddin aware of this?
Dido: Yes! Salahuddin knows this I am not lying to you. He told me, he doesn't trust one soul over there. He knows he is walking alone and that there are many people conspiring to bring him down. Which is also part of the reason he appointed Shantoo [Shahidur Rahman] to work with me. He told me that Shantoo is his friend and one of the few people he can trust. And I tell you this: if Salahuddin leaves, football in Bangladesh will go back to the Stone Age.
DSS: Going back, what did Kazi Salahuddin tell you in July after you sacked the players? Did you have his support during that crisis?
Dido: Salahuddin told me that I was 100 per cent right. He told me that I have every right to sack the players. However he wanted me to play it smarter by keeping them in the camp somehow, until the initial storm passed. I abided by his request. But I didn't lie to anybody: the president, the NTMC or the players. I told them [the players], you are gone. You can stay if you want but you are not playing for the national team under me again. Salahuddin also promised me that considering the role that the NTMC had played in blowing this crisis out of proportions he would look towards dismantling it.
DSS:... but that never happened.The NTMC is still functional
Dido: Yes it is. I think Salahuddin got busy with his election as the SAFF presidency and other pressing matters. He was not able to follow through on this. Also he does always have the ultimate say. Like, when they went to sack me, they had to convene the executive committee.
DSS: Regarding the players, you softened your stance. You picked Zahid Hasan Emily and Wali Faisal for the SAFF Championships.
Dido: 1 did. Because both are very good players and I had never had any problem with them in the past. This showed that my decision to drop the 'experienced' players was not personal. I did it purely because they had no place in my playing philosophy.
DSS: So eleven months into your tenure, you arc heading home? How do you feel about it? Dido: To be honest and frank, I feel quite happy to be heading home. 1 was quite optimistic at the start but I have slowly realised that this is a place where too many people work hard to do the wrong sort of things. Normally it’s the other way around. It's quite impossible to make changes in this sort of an atmosphere. Today, 1 am gone, but another foreign coach comes in, 1 tell you, he will have the same complaints.
DSS: But are you satisfied with your achievements in this job? Dido: With my efforts definitely. Let me put it this way. In the whole year, 1 did not take a single holiday to go back to see my daughters in the Netherlands. 1 worked the whole year. So now, I can honestly say I am happy to be going back. So I should thank the people who worked to have me sacked. They have given me a blessing in disguise for my daughters.