He was portrayed as a saviour from a great footballing nation carrying a magic wand to change the face of the success-starved game in the country.

But after 13 odd months Cruciani, a direct assistant of legendary Argentine World Cup winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti, bade bye to Bangladesh in the most embarrassing way.

'Fired' after the just concluded SA Games debacle where his side failed to cross the first round barrier, Cruciani had little ideas about further humiliation when he returned to Dhaka from Colombo last week to prepare for a respectable farewell.

Rather on Monday night when Cruciani left Dhaka for home, he did not know how much money he would get in hand. He appealed to the BFF to give him the full amount before his departure and was kept waiting till the evening.

"I have packed up and ready to go. If I do not get my dues, my manager will see it because he got me this contact. I have talked about my rights so much that I am fed up to talk right now," said Cruciani before his bitter departure.

"I still love this country and would return here if local club Abahani offers me the salary (4,000 dollars) I got as national coach," he informed.

"Football in this country has a dark future if there are no programmes to groom young players. All your neighbours, even Bhutan and the Maldives, have youth development programmes but you don't have it here. The clubs also have to take care of the players," opined the Argentine, who led Bangladesh to finish runners-up in the Myanmar invitational tournament and the SAFF Championship in Karachi in the first half of his brief stint.

"I consider my first six months here as really good but the latter part, I was not motivated because the conditions were not helping," he admitted.

"I know that federation officials need success but a coach needs at least three years to give shape to the game in a country which lacks facilities and quality footballers," he added.

Cruciani was fined and banned by the Asian Football Confederation for an attempted assault on an Indian referee, in December 2005, during the pre-qualifying home match against Pakistan. He was barred from sitting in the country's Asian Cup qualifiers and things began to change as his side crashed 6-1 to eventual champions Tajikistan in the AFC Challenge Cup quarterfinals at home.

Although the BFF kept mum for the last eight months since the fine was slapped on him, the guardian of country's football suddenly realised that the outgoing coach must pay 3,000 dollars as penalty for his insane act that embarrassed the whole nation!

"There's nothing wrong in this. Federations sometimes pay fines for their employees' acts, but it depends on the relationship. He has talked against the federation and we are not happy. Still, the decision will be taken in the executive committee meeting on Wednesday. If the committee decides in his favour, he will be paid in full," said Anwarul Haque Helal, the general secretary of BFF, defending the federation's decision.

He said Cruciani was to be paid 1,500 dollars including 500 dollars as bonus for the SAFF Championship before his departure.

"We felt that he did not work properly during preparations for the SA Games. He has also accepted this."

But what many feel is that the leaving coach should be shown some respect and spared the embarrassment as a goodwill gesture.