Gerard Jones, the former head coach of Bangladesh's Under-20 football team, has broken his silence four days after being sacked, revealing in a lengthy social media post that he received death threats during his time working in the country.

Jones lost his job on September 4, a day after Bangladesh suffered a 3-0 defeat to Syria that ended their hopes of progressing in the AFC Under-20 Asian Cup qualifiers following back to back losses.

Writing from Kansas City in the United States, Jones drew a clear line between fair criticism and what he called unacceptable personal targeting during his brief spell in charge of the young side.

"Criticism of football decisions is completely fair. Personal abuse and threats are not. I've had nasty messages, personal information leaks, death threats. And for what," he wrote.

The BFF's statement gave no specific reason for his removal, simply confirming Jones had been relieved of his duties for the qualifying campaign and that his contract had been terminated.

Many pointed to an altercation at the team hotel on August 19 involving assistant coach Atikur Rahman, alongside poor results, as the underlying factors behind the decision, with Jones reportedly contacting police himself afterwards.

Jones used much of his post to outline the broader vision he had brought to the role, centred on youth development, coaching methodology, talent identification and recruiting players from the Bangladeshi diaspora.

"I went to Bangladesh with a much wider vision around youth development, methodology, talent identification, coach development and diaspora recruitment. Unfortunately, the short period of time meant there was very little opportunity to begin implementing that longer-term work," he wrote.

He acknowledged the pressures of elite coaching, accepting that scrutiny comes with the job, while noting he had only around nine weeks with his squad before facing opposition with far more established footballing infrastructure.

Jones also reflected on a gap between training and match performance, explaining that principles established during preparation in Bangladesh failed to translate once the team competed in Uzbekistan.

"During our preparation, our team showed better possession retention, wide and central rotations, box entries, high pressing and counter pressing but unfortunately we weren't able to consistently reproduce enough of that," he explained.

Despite the results, Jones described the experience as rewarding in other ways, highlighting connections built with coaches and analysts from across Asia who reached out to discuss tactical ideas regardless of the scoreline.

He was also unwilling to let two results define a coaching career spanning close to two decades.

"Two international matches does not erase nearly two decades of coaching, leadership, player development, coach education and building programmes," he wrote.

On Bangladeshi football's wider struggles, Jones pointed to historical results against regional rivals as evidence of deep structural issues, citing heavy previous defeats to Qatar, Syria and Vietnam as further proof of the gap that remains.

He closed on a warmer note, wishing the players and staff well.

"I genuinely wish the players and everyone involved in Bangladesh football well. There are some talented people and an enormous passion for the game," he wrote, calling it simply another chapter in his journey.