By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
Lee Jang-soo was fired as manager of Beijing Guoan in the Chinese professional football league, Wednesday, after a recent loss knocked the team out of first place.
Rumors that the South Korean - who led Guoan from 2007 - would be fired had been circulating since early in the season.
Beijing fell to third place after losing to Changchun Yatai 2-0 on Tuesday. But they remain in the hunt, trailing the top spot by only two points.
"I received the message on Wednesday that I was released," Lee confirmed.
Conflicts with the team's higher-ups appear to have contributed to the action.
"Some high-ranking officials pushed me to use three or four specific players as starters, but I kept denying the request. Those players had a few problems, including their attitude at practice," Lee said.
"It is hard to accept their decision. But I have conducted my role fairly. I don't feel ashamed of anything I did because I chose the players to play in the games based on their performance at practice."
Many Chinese football fans took the news of the 52-year-old's release hard.
Chinese portal site Sina.com conducted an opinion poll about the firing - 76 percent responded that they did not think Lee was responsible for the team's third place standing. Only 13.6 percent of fans answered that they thought Beijing would fare better, while 52.6 percent felt that, with the move, the team had thrown away its chances for the title.
As head coach of Chongqing Lifan and Qingdao Jonoon, he led those teams to FA Cup titles in 2000 and 2002, respectively.
After Lee took the reins in Beijing, his team ranked second in 2007 and third in 2008.
"I will not finish my career in China disgracefully," he said. "I don't have any plans right now. But I will not finish like this," Lee added.