Bhutia, who reached here today, admittd that his relationship with Nayeemuddin is far from cordial, but that, he added, had little effect on his game. ``My terms with the coach is known to all and I do not want to go into it, however, I played to the best of my capability and I am satisfied with my performance and also with India's showing.'' Bhutia told The Indian Express today. India managed to reach the second round, but lost four of the five matches they played by narrow margins.

Bhutia hinted that a few other players may have also had trouble adjusting with Nayeemuddin's ways, but none of them would want to speak against the coach. Bhutia's poor relationship with the coach can be traced back to the South AsianFootball Federation Cup in Kathmandu held in September 1997.

Nayeemuddin's penchant for strict discipline is said to have irked Bhutia. He and close friend Somatai Saiza got on Nayeemuddin's bad books during the Kalimpong camp before the SAF Cup where Saiza is said to have been out of the camp without informing the coach. In fact, repeated tiffs between Saiza and the coach led to the former being dropped from the team.

The tension between Bhutia and Nayeemuddin heightened in Bangkok when Bhutia felt that the coach was not communicating properly with him. ``It is the coach's duty to tell me of my mistakes. Instead, I was coming to know of them from the press. That is not right,'' Bhutia said. ``Nothing came out in the pre-match meetings and I had to depend on other players to point out my errors on the field.''