Former England captain Bryan Robson put on a brave face on Sunday in explaining why he was clinging on to his job as Thailand coach after overseeing the country’s worst performances in recent years.
Furious Thai fans have demanded the resignation of the country’s soccer president and want answers as to why a side once tipped to become an Asian soccer heavyweight have stumbled embarrassingly in every competition since Robson took over.
The former Manchester United skipper, who replaced compatriot Peter Reid in September last year, called his own news conference to explain the team’s dire form and admitted he would not give himself a passing grade in his first national team job.
“No, I don’t count anything as a pass until we win,” a stern-faced Robson said when asked to evaluate his performance as Thailand boss. “I’m quite disappointed, I want to win and it’s results that matter.”
Under Robson, Thailand failed to reach the Asian Cup for the first time in 23 years and were bundled out of the Southeast Asian Games and the Southeast Asian championship — competitions they have long dominated — in the opening rounds.
Draws against Laos, Malaysia and the Maldives in the last three months were the final straw for angry Thai fans, who had witnessed a major facelift under Reid, whose free-flowing team climbed rapidly up the FIFA rankings.
Robson said he would not step down because he believed in his players and said the team had suffered due to the success of revamped domestic competitions, which had left his players exhausted and poorly prepared for national duty.
The former Middlesbrough, West Brom, Sheffield United and Bradford boss also rejected criticism he spent too much time as a TV pundit and global ambassador for Manchester United.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m coach here fulltime,” he said. “People have said I keep going back to England or to Singapore to do TV work, but I’ve not left Thailand for six months, other than for matches and last season I attended 72 [local] games.”
He wants Thai soccer to be better organized and was confident that, if given proper support, he could reverse his team’s form in time for 2014 World Cup qualifiers next year.
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