BANGKOK (7 March 2012) – In spite of his earlier threat to quit his post, Winfried Schaefer has decided to stay on as the chief coach of Thailand. The German had earlier expressed his disappointment in not being able to lead the Thais to the fourth round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
But yesterday, he retracted his earlier statement that he might not see out his three-year contract when he expressed his pride of working for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
“To be honest, I thought long and hard whether to stay or not after the end of the Oman match. With many fans lending their support to me through my Facebook, as well as my personal target with the team, I simply can’t leave,” said Schaefer (pix).
“Most important, though, is that I felt as if I had served the King while doing the job, since the FAT is under royal patronage. That really means a lot to me.
“Everyone needs to have a dream and live with it. One thing that I can’t take on my chin is the knowledge that we should have realised our dream if we had been well prepared for the Oman game. As we all knew, our preparation for such a crucial game with a ticket (for the final group-stage qualification) at stake was not what everyone expected. I don’t know when such an opportunity will come round again.”
