Thailand fire Siegfried Held

German Siegfried Held has been sacked as coach of Thailand after less than six months in the job, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said yesterday.

The 62-year-old, who led Malta's national team between June 2001 and September 2003, had been under pressure after holders Thailand failed to advance from the group stages of the Tiger Cup last December.

Charnwit Polcheewin will take over from the former German international and become the fifth person to hold the post in the last 16 months. Among the previous coaches were England's Peter Withe and Carlos Roberto Carvalho, of Brazil.

Held took the job after Thailand were beaten 4-1 away by North Korea in an Asian 2006 World Cup qualifier last September.

Before, he was the Football Association of Thailand's youth development officer.

Thailand beat the UAE on Held's debut. On that occasion he was reported as saying: "Beating the UAE has calmed the situation. The task now is to make sure we get good results at the Tiger Cup... if you don't get the results in the short term, you needn't bother planning for the long haul. It's exactly the same wherever you go."

Under Held's charge, Malta won four times from 21 matches played. He took the job from Yugoslav Josif Ilic and was replaced by another German, Horst Heese.

Held was often criticised during his stay in Malta for his hard-line approach which did not go down well with the players.

It seems his un-compromising character was also under fire in Thailand.

Thaifootball.com recently quoted team manager Wimol Kanjana as saying: "Held doesn't listen to anyone at all. At the Tiger Cup, the players were upset when he wouldn't allow air-conditioning on the coach when they returned from training because he was concerned they might get sick.

"It was really stuffy and the players suffered with their breathing."

Kanjana added that the training regime by Held was too tough with sessions being held on the morning of the match during the Tiger Cup tournament.

"He likes to do it the same way as training in Germany, but it is not suitable," Kanjana said.

Held played 422 matches in the Bundesliga and scored 72 goals during his career with B. Dortmund, Offenbach and B. Uerdingen.

He played 41 times for West Germany, appearing at both 1966 and 1970 World Cup finals.