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STUNNED soccer coach Peter Taylor found out that he had been axed from his post in Bahrain after his wife Jenny spotted a note that he had been sacked on his Wikipedia entry.
The former England interim coach, who led the kingdom to two regional trophy successes, was gutted not to be able to lead the Nationals into the forthcoming Gulf Cup tournament to be staged on home soil in the New Year.
Taylor said: “I’m terribly disappointed that the Bahrain Football Federation (BFA) has ended my contract as I believed – and still believe – I am a good long-term bet and would have helped Bahrain football.
“I’m very proud I was a part of Bahrain history when we won two tournaments and very sad I cannot help get a third. The coming Gulf Cup is a major event and I wish Bahrain all the best. I would like to thank the players for their efforts in my 15 months here.”
Taylor came a cropper after a lacklustre goalless home friendly match against a Philippines side and a thumping 6-2 defeat last week in Dubai.
Bahrain received a mauling at the hands of the United Arab Emirates and appeared to be on the receiving end of a backlash from the opposing players insulted by an ‘outrageous smear’ after the UAE’s team was labelled ‘sand monkeys’ in an article on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) website which set off a wave of criticism.
The AFC called it a ‘genuine mistake’ inserted by a new writer who saw the name wrongly listed as the team’s nickname on its Wikipedia page. The UAE team’s actual nickname is Al Abyad, or The White, and the Wikipedia page has since been corrected.
The UAE Football Association’s Yousuf Abdulla demanded an apology and the AFC swiftly said it wanted to ‘apologise for any hurt this might have caused’ to soccer officials and fans in the UAE.
It was too late for Taylor and his Bahrain team, many of whom had only played a couple of games at the start of the VIVA First Division campaign, and friendly fixture or not, they were no match for their fired-up opponents.
The anger over the ‘disrespect’ shown towards the UAE team was obvious before the start of the game. “To those who called us Sand Monkeys, we are Zayed’s Lions,” read a banner unfurled by the UAE players as the national anthems played.
Despite being ahead twice during the game the final result was never in doubt once the UAE equalised. Bahrain’s defence collapsed and leaked four more goals.
Shortly after the debacle, GulfWeekly contacted Taylor for his reaction. He replied: “My wife has ‘googled’ my name and on the Wikipedia site it says I’m sacked. I’m trying to find out what’s happening. I’m very much in the dark.”
Within days it became clear that he was indeed sacked by the BFA despite having nine-months left on a two-year contract.
“It’s the federation that have decided to change because recent results have not been good,” said the former Hull City boss who took the East Yorkshire club to two successive promotions and led England for one game against Italy in 2000, as well as having two successful spells as England Under 21 coach.
He added: “I understand it is about results but I also understand football and there has been lots of reasons for our recent results and performances. Some of our friendlies have been very difficult because of the dates played and our players having only played two league games.
“However, the Philippines game was the one that I feel was a poor one but the other games were understandable.”
Despite the disappointment, Taylor kept his promise to train a group of school children yesterday afternoon at the British School of Bahrain.
Taylor also thanked BFA board president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, BFA vice-president for technical affairs, for ‘giving me the opportunity of being head coach for Bahrain’.
The football federation now has the task of finding Taylor’s replacement and met early this week to discuss options before the nation competes in the seventh West Asian Football Federation Championship, hosted by defending champions Kuwait, which kicks off on December 8.
The much anticipated Gulf Cup will be staged in Bahrain in January and the BFA would love to add that trophy to the two Taylor secured at the GCC Games and Arab Games.
Football pundits have already placed a number of high-profile former English Premiership names in the frame including former Manchester City coach Peter Reid, former QPR boss Iain Dowie, Gulf-based TV pundit and much-admired former Charlton boss Alan Curbishley, as well as former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson, who once coached Thailand.
