Football manager Schaefer expects to keep Thailand job

Winfried Schaefer

Beleaguered coach Winfried Schaefer hinted at a strained relationship with Worawi Makudi by admitting that he had not talked with the Football Association of Thailand president for a "long time".

The FA is due to decide on the German's fate in its board meeting on Sunday, which comes after a 5-2 defeat last Friday in Lebanon that left the Thais without a point from their opening two matches in the Asian Cup qualifiers.

Coming hot on the heels of a 3-1 loss at home to Kuwait last month, the reversal in Beirut heaped more pressure on the 63-year-old Schaefer, whose tenure has been under microscope since he failed to help Thailand reclaim the Asean Championship title in December.

Just days away from learning whether he will keep a job he has held since 2011, Schaefer revealed on his Facebook page that since returning from Lebanon he had not talked with anyone at the FA, including its boss Worawi, about his future.

"My contract isn't finished in August or in December but at the end of 2014. Neither the president nor the general secretary [Ong-art Kohsinkha] has ever talked to me about a contract termination.

"I have no idea what the general secretary told the media about the meeting at the end of this month. In the last weeks I have not talk to him about anything other than internal matters concerning Charyl Chappuis and the organisation of our trip to Qatar and Beirut.

"And, I haven't talked to the president for a long time, except for very, very brief moments on the phone, but about completely different topics," said Schaefer.

The veteran coach went on to defend his handling of the Charyl Chappuis case, in which the Buriram United midfielder was cleared too late to play for Thailand against World Cup hopefuls Lebanon.

"My team took over and negotiated directly with Fifa on the case. In Qatar and Beirut we talked to Fifa every day and finally, on Friday, March 3, they called us to say their judgement had been sent to the AFC and the FA on time.

"But for some reason the AFC and Thai FA didn't send a copy to the match commissioner. The AFC explained to us [the fax arrived late due to] technical problems. So Charyl was not allowed to play. But he is now, and that's a fact - free to play for the Thai national team."

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Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2013/03/29/football-manager-schaefer-expects-to-keep-thailand-job/