Following Park Joo-ho, Lee Young-pyo also spoke with determination
Commissioner Park Joo-ho’s revealing remarks were made regarding the process by which KFA appointed national soccer team coach Hong Myung-bo.
In the middle, commentator Lee Young-pyo, who served as vice president of the Korea Football Association, also spoke.
Commissioner Lee appeared in the JTBC newsroom on the 9th and criticized the Korea Football Association, clearly stating that the appointment of a foreign coach was not canceled due to ‘financial reasons’ as raised by some.
Commissioner Lee opened up and said that fans seem to be dissatisfied with the (appointment) process.
After that, “I asked three coaches, Gus Poyet, David Wagner, and Hong Myung-bo, about their opinions.
The original procedure should have been announced after the existing Power Enhancement Committee communicated, but the biggest problem is that that process was omitted.
There were security concerns about communicating the process to Power Enhancement Committee members.
However, (what this means) is that he did not trust the committee members who worked together for five months to select the national team coach.
I answered that, in my view, there was quite a problem administratively.
Early on, efforts were made to appoint foreign coaches
In response to the suspicion that they were initially trying to exclude foreign coaches (such as coach Hong Myung-bo) and select domestic coaches, he answered that that was clearly not the case.
The first and last time I checked was mid-to-late April.
At that time, there were quite active efforts to appoint foreign coaches.
I spoke with Commissioner Park Joo-ho last week, and he said that there was a movement back then to select a foreign coach.
Then, during the 2002 World Cup, I experienced how a good foreign coach builds a team.
In fact, for the first time in 20 years, a golden generation such as Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, and Kim Min-jae appeared, and there was an expectation that if a good manager was also brought in, the happy things we did in 2002 would happen.
He expressed regret that in the beginning, expectations were high because there was such a movement (to appoint a good foreign coach).
Questions have been raised as to whether the reason negotiations with renowned managers such as Hervé Renard and Jesse Marsh broke down in the beginning was due to financial factors resulting from the dismissal of manager Jurgen Klinsmann and the payment of a large penalty.
In order to fire coach Klinsmann, whose contract expired in 2026, the entire remaining salary had to be paid.
If you add the penalty that must be paid to the coaches brought in by Coach Klinsmann, the amount of the penalty is known to soar to 10 billion won.
Considering that the Korea Football Association’s budget is limited and a significant portion of the 2024 budget will be spent on building the Korea Football Center, there was considerable speculation that the penalty could become an obstacle to the selection of the next coach.
The host asked whether it was because of the huge penalty in the process of dismissing Director Klinsmann.
But Commissioner Lee said the answer was no.
It wasn’t really a money issue.
At first, when I heard that there was not enough money to bring in foreign players, I thought, “We can’t convert soccer into money.”
So I kept saying that money wasn’t important.
In fact, the association is making a considerable amount of profit by selling TV broadcasting rights (OTT, terrestrial channels) and is signing new contracts.
He countered that he thought the funds were sufficient in that regard.
Director appointed after interview with Korean Football Association candidates
Technical Director Lee Im-saeng said, “Foreign candidates wanted to come to Korea, and there were no issues with salary issues.
Although our soccer philosophy is solid, I was worried about whether our players would be able to adapt at this point.
“It was questionable whether the philosophy they pursue would be suitable for Korean soccer players,” he answered.
In response to the question of whether the appointment of Director Hong was a decision made by the higher-ups, Lee Im-saeng, technical director of the Power Strengthening Committee, said, “Chairman Chung Mong-gyu gave me full authority,” and that it was a decision made after interviews with candidates rather than a ‘top-down’ method.
Commissioner Lee finally answered the question of what the biggest problem was.
I think we have disappointed the fans, and another thing is that the association has made administrative mistakes so far.
Every time that happened, I thought, “Anyone can make a mistake, so let’s just trust that I made a mistake.”
However, as I noticed that mistakes were repeated, I realized that if a mistake was repeated, it could become a skill rather than a mistake.
I started to think that a total change was needed.
“This incident made me think again that it would be great if we, regardless of whether we are soccer people or anyone who likes soccer, pool our wisdom together and make a really big change,” he emphasized.
He also said that he would like to apologize for the statement that Commissioner Lee directly made, saying, “I had contact with a manager of Jurgen Klopp’s level.”
At that time, the Korea Football Association actually contacted managers who would have been surprising to my standards, such as Xavi Hernández and Rafael Benitez.
Seeing his active performance, I had high expectations that we would bring in a good coach this time.
At the time, there were voices questioning the Power Strengthening Committee, which included many members, including Park Joo-ho.
It was said in the sense of ‘let’s look forward’, and when asked ‘is it Klopp’s level’, he said ‘by my standards, yes’.
In conclusion, looking at this incident, he regretted that we were not able to bring in a director who would satisfy the fans, and he wanted to apologize for that part (remark).
Korea Football Association coach Hong Myung-bo appointed
On July 7, 2024, the Korea Football Association appointed coach Hong Myung-bo as the national team head coach, a position that had been vacant for five months.
A contract was signed not only for the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup, but also for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Saudi Arabia Asian Cup in January 2027.
Although his salary is not known, it is known to be the highest level in Korea, comparable to that of foreign coaches.
Park Joo-ho, who attended several meetings as part of the National Power Strengthening Committee, responded as follows after hearing the news.
It’s by no means the exact procedure and I was in it but I don’t know.
I can’t explain it, but there’s nothing right about it.
(Director Hong Myung-bo) said he wouldn’t do it and then it happened, and I don’t know what kind of change of heart occurred within a few days.
So why did Jeong Hae-seong, chairman of the Power Strengthening Committee, go abroad and meet four or five candidates for director?
Why did General Director Lee Im-saeng go to Europe?
He completely criticized the association, saying that nothing was accomplished within the procedures.
Korea Football Association official statement released
Then, the Korea Football Association published a statement on its official website on July 9, 2024.
Park Joo-ho, a representative member of the National Power Strengthening Committee, distorted the activities of the Power Strengthening Committee and the director selection process from an arbitrary perspective through a video appearing on SNS, expressing serious concern and regret over the situation, which is causing great misunderstanding among the media and the public. revealed.
“It may be different from the coach that Commissioner Park Joo-ho wanted to select for Korean soccer, but the fact that he carelessly mentioned this as a procedural mistake is an inappropriate statement and action that can’t help but be surprising.”
He said, “Even if you never expected that you would become coach Hong Myung-bo, immediately after being appointed as coach, uploading a statement denying the process itself to a social media platform without self-review is an irresponsible action that causes enormous misunderstanding among the public and media.” refuted.
by 바카라게임