Pressure Mounting on Croatia Coach Igor Štimac as Fans Lose Faith
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Pressure is mounting on current Croatian football coach Igor Štimac after friday night’s lethargic 1-1 draw against Serbia in Belgrade. Only 3% of fans still believe in the former Derby County and West Ham defender, according to a poll conducted by leading daily Jutarnji list.
The poll, which had more than 17,000 responses from fans, shows that Croatia’s loyal supporters do not rate the inexperienced trainer and his tactics, and are calling for his sacking.
“Štimac should resign, he is an embarrassment to Croatian football, he is not a coach but an actor, he is destroying Croatian football – resign!!,” wrote one Croatian fan on a local football forum.
Štimac’s Facebook account, which he is personally very active on and earned him the nickname the ‘Facebook Coach’, was bombarded with messages asking him to resign after Friday night’s dismal display. 73% of those polled think that former coach Slaven Bilić was a far better option on the bench. 10% of fans think Štimac is an average coach, whilst 15% think that it is irrelevant who sits on the bench as the real ‘coach’ of Croatia is controversial Croatian FA board member Zdravko Mamić.
