Seoul: Gus Poyet has resigned as head coach of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors after a wildly successful first season with the South Korean football club. Jeonbuk announced Monday that Poyet is stepping down after leading the club to a record 10th K League 1 title and a sixth Korea Cup trophy -- the second domestic double in team history. The announcement came two days after Jeonbuk defeated Gwangju FC 2-1 in the Korea Cup final in Seoul.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Poyet, a former Sunderland boss who hails from Uruguay, guided Jeonbuk to the top of the K League 1 tables a season after they languished near the bottom and narrowly avoided being relegated to the second-tier K League 2. Jeonbuk began the season with two draws and two losses in their first four matches but then reeled off a 22-match undefeated streak, with 17 wins and five draws -- tying for the third-longest such run in K League history. Jeonbuk clinched the K League 1 title on Oct. 18, with five matches remaining in the season, and added another trophy over the weekend.
Poyet had earlier hinted his stay in South Korea would not go beyond this year. After accepting the trophy as the K League 1 Coach of the Year last Monday, Poyet voiced his displeasure with a recent suspension for his top assistant coach, Mauricio Taricco, over what the K League's disciplinary committee deemed a racist gesture toward a referee during a November match. Despite Taricco's denial of any racist intent, the league dismissed the coach's appeal. Taricco, who had been working with Poyet at several stops since 2009, offered to resign after this season.
"If you touch one of my staff, you have a problem with me," Poyet said then. "It's making more and more difficult for us to stay in this country." And before the Korea Cup final on Saturday, a Jeonbuk official told Yonhap News Agency that Poyet had expressed his desire to terminate his contract with one year remaining and that the club had been trying to persuade him to stay put.
In Monday's announcement, Jeonbuk said Taricco's resignation played a major role in Poyet's own decision to leave. "Coach Poyet felt dispirited and burdened by Taricco's resignation, after Taricco had played a key role in organizing training sessions and developing tactics by his side for 16 years," Jeonbuk said. "Coach Poyet had established his coaching system with the same backroom staff over the years, and he was concerned about the loss of stability for his leadership (following Taricco's departure)."
"We tried to sell coach Poyet on our vision for the new season and vowed to restore coach Taricco's dignity," Jeonbuk added. "In the end, we decided to respect coach Poyet's decision."
Poyet thanked Jeonbuk fans for their support and apologized for not giving them a proper goodbye. "I will never forget this one year I've spent with our fans for the rest of my coaching career," Poyet said. "I hope to return to Korea one day with a smile on my face. I will keep rooting for my team, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, from afar."