Former Bangladesh Under-20 coach Gerard Jones has claimed he received death threats, personal attacks and leaked personal information during his brief spell with the national team.
The Bangladesh Football Federation terminated Jones’s contract on September 4, one day after Bangladesh lost 3-0 to Syria in the AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Four days later, Jones addressed his Bangladesh experience in a lengthy Facebook post from Kansas City, United States. He said criticism of his football decisions was fair, but claimed some people crossed a clear line.
“Criticism of football decisions is fair. But personal attacks, leaking personal information and death threats are absolutely unacceptable,” Jones wrote.
“I received some extremely abusive messages, my personal information was leaked and I received death threats. I am a husband, a father and a son.”
The BFF did not give a specific reason for terminating Jones’s contract. However, a BFF source previously linked the decision to the team’s poor results and an altercation between Jones and assistant coach Atikur Rahman Mishu at the team hotel in Dhaka. Jones called the emergency service 999 after the incident.
Bangladesh lost 2-0 to Uzbekistan before suffering the 3-0 defeat against Syria. The results ended their hopes of reaching the AFC U-20 Asian Cup final tournament.
Jones, however, argued that his work should not face judgement solely on those results.
“I did not go to Bangladesh just to work on the results of the national team,” he wrote. “There was a wider plan involving youth development, coach education, talent identification and working with expatriate players.”
He said he had only around nine weeks to work with the team before the qualifiers.
Jones also claimed the squad had made progress during training. He pointed to possession, attacking variety, box entries, high pressing and counter-pressing as areas where the team had improved.
However, he admitted Bangladesh failed to reproduce that work consistently in competitive matches.
“The football we created in training could not be played consistently on the pitch,” Jones wrote.
The English coach also criticised Bangladesh’s wider football structure.
He said the country needs major changes in player selection, infrastructure, football culture and elite player development if Bangladesh want to compete regularly with Asia’s stronger teams.
Jones also rejected the idea that two international defeats should define his coaching career.
“This period of work and achievement cannot be erased by the results of two international matches,” he wrote, pointing to almost two decades of coaching experience.
Bangladesh eventually finished bottom of their qualifying group after losing 3-0 to India in their final match.
Jones ended his statement by wishing Bangladesh’s players and football well. He said the country has talent and strong public passion for the game, but needs long-term planning and the right environment to develop it.
