What a cheek!

So Siegfried Held, our softly-spoken national coach, has had enough. In a recent feature broadcast on Spiegel Online, the German mentor took Maltese football to task.

He was at pains to justify his string of bad results and pointed his fingers at any imaginable situation that may have contributed to this dismal track record.

Just days before the end of his reign as Malta coach, Held's comments have angered Maltese football critics and fans.

For fairness sake, the Malta mentor was probably tricked into participating in the interview as the author clearly had a hidden agenda.

Alwin Schröder had the cheek to belittle our small country. The article, an English version of which was carried in this newspaper, made my blood boil.

Just like a prostitute who beds a celebrity and then spills the beans on the bedroom endeavours, Schröder used Held's departure to portray our country as some isolated fortress of butchers and stalkers.

I just hope that the German journalist did not come to Malta with the blessing of the Malta Tourism Authority.

We have had enough bad press from disgruntled tourists who come to Malta for holiday.

The last thing we need is a writer who comes to our island to interview the national coach and tries to spice up his article with sweeping statements on our way of life.

Mind you, what Held said about the state of Maltese football has been known for several years. Our players lack a proper framework of professionalism as football is still mostly considered a part-time job.

However, if the national coach did not possess the skills to deal with players with a Mediterranean mentality, he should have called it quits a long time ago.

Had Held been working for another football association, he would probably have been shown the back door after three or four losses on the trot.

To add insult to injury, foreign coaches receive a fat pay cheque at the end of every month and live in luxurious villas in some secluded location.

Coaches are employed to manage football teams and that includes the human resources aspect. If players are being paid for playing with the national team, then they have to report for work. This is common practice.

It is up to the coach to report guilty parties and maintain discipline and order among the squad. Every work place has its code of practices and a football team is no exception.

Employees are also expected to perform their line of duty. Failure to do so will lead to their sacking. But Maltese football is above this standard policy.

We have grown accustomed to the same faces donning the national jersey for years on end, yet no positive results have been forthcoming.

Any national coach should be bold enough to make several changes to the national team. That is what Held should have done as he leads Malta for its final qualifier against Israel in Antalya on Wednesday.

There are a handful of youngsters in the top flight who deserve a chance with the national team.

Motivation and job-satisfaction have long been wiped off the slate of our German coach. He was meant to teach our lads "simple football" but he failed miserably.

Instead Held seems to have been seduced by this holiday mentality culture as his assistant Michael Molzahn described it.

The MFA should take such a comment seriously.

We have a band of qualified foreign coaches who are given the task of managing the national teams but have not been able to rid the players of this laissez-faire attitude.

Held's successor will be nominated in the next few days. Whether the MFA employs another foreigner is another story.

Germans and Serbians have come and gone without accomplishing their mission.

The MFA should draw up a list of objectives and reasonable timeframes for the new mentor. If the new coach fails to win any points midway through a qualifying campaign, he should be replaced.

It is up to the national coach to juggle around with the selection of players for international matches. If players are suspended for a competitive match, they should not be utilised for a friendly match.

Delayed farewell

Critics will once again be calling for a Maltese coach to be handed the job.

Whether this plea will fall on deaf ears remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Held's reign will come to an end in Turkey on Wednesday, marking another barren competitive campaign.

So according to Schröder, Malta will be kissing goodbye to its only professional footballer. Mind you, such farewell should have come much, much earlier.