It has been learnt from a reliable source inside the federation that the BFF president Tabith Awal, who returned from the UK on Wednesday, sat with each of the 18 players who boycotted Peter Butler’s training camp. He has also spoken with the coach, who returned from the UK after being handed a two-year extension on his job.
The meetings took place at the BFF House late on Thursday night after a seven-member special probe committee presented him with a report with recommendations over the issue, which, it has been learnt, mentioned the breach of discipline by the players and the breach of code of conduct by the coach.
The president, according to the source who is a member of the special committee, has however tried to take a moderate approach, and assured the players of taking their grievances into consideration and even asked the coach to take a more lenient approach towards the players.
However, the players seem to be adamant in their stance of boycotting Butler’s training camp and their demand of relieving him of the coaching job, which became apparent after none of them turned up at the training camp on Saturday morning.
Apparently, the BFF president, who has not spoken to the media on this issue since returning to Bangladesh and even during his stay in the UK, will take more time on the issue for an amicable resolution.
The committee member, asking not to be named, said that the training camp, which features 13 players from the original squad and 20 more from the under-20 camp, will continue to be in training under Butler.
He told The Daily Star that the squad for the two friendly matches against UAE on February 26 and Match 2 in UAE will be made “from a pool of players who ever are in training.”
He also added, “The 18 respected players are always welcome to join the camp. The ball is in their court now.”
