It's been only 32 days since Nathan Hall arrived in Dhaka to fill the vacant head coaching position at Abahani Limited but the four-time professional football league champions sacked the Australian coach yesterday before he feature in any professional game.
Abahani's former Iranian coach Ali Akber Parmoslemi is set to replace Hall and rejoin the Bangladesh Premier League giants during the Federation Cup, confirmed Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu yesterday. Rupu also claimed the Parmoslemi has already given the green signal and agreed to join the Sky-blues soon.
According to the club officials, the Australian coach failed to handle the team professionally which is one of the main reasons behind showing Hall the exit just a day before the Federation Cup kicks off. Creating discrimination among the foreign players of the club and lack of true professional approach are the other reasons behind sacking of the 29-year-old.
"After having a meeting with the team management and officials, we agreed to sack Hall. I informed him it yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. We thought he is not the right man to manage a club like Abahani as he failed to handle the team, especially his judgment about the foreign players," Rupu told the Dhaka Tribune at the club yesterday.
It was also learnt that Hall rated the Brazilian coaches more than the African players which could demotivate the current foreign players.
Abahani appointed Hall on October 19 after an unproductive spell with an Iranian coach. Before Abahani, Hall was the head coach of Indian I-League club United Sikkim.
Abahani, who will play Rahmatganj in the Federation Cup opener today, has not won a title in the last two seasons under Iranian coaches Ardeshir Pournemat. The year before that, Iranian Ali Akbar led them to the league title.
"We’ve already got our replacement for Hall. Ali Akbar will take the charge of the club. I talked to him today and he has given his agreement to join the club. I hope he will arrive soon," added Rupu.
Meanwhile Nathan Hall expressed anger before his departure. “I have found a non-professional approach in Abahani, the way they run the club does not go with modern football. I found it hard to cope with the environment and the officials did not cooperate with me. I was not comfortable there,” said the Australian.
