From genius footballer to playboy to television presenter, Diego Maradona has done a pretty good job at reinventing himself over the years.

Now he must do it all over again after his axing as coach of Argentina's national football team on Tuesday.

The 49-year-old, whose low points include his infamous Hand of God goal in 1986 as well as battles with drugs, has several new paths open to him, all of which are likely to become clear when he holds a press conference at 2100GMT on Wednesday.

It will be the first time since his contract with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) was terminated that he has spoken at any length on the issues that led to his departure from a job that he had said on Sunday he wanted to keep.

The issue, it seems, was more about his staff than anything else. Maradona had insisted that the coaching and technical team that had gone to South Africa - where Argentina were beaten 4-0 by Germany in the quarter-finals - should all stay while AFA president Julio Grondona had felt that at least one head should roll.

Maradona has a history of doing the opposite and may well reveal a new career line beyond the realms of the football field.

"I am in the process of reinventing myself. I must do it because my head is demanding it," he said while in South Africa.

The decision to dump Maradona has not been entirely popular in Argentina with the public now engaging in the blame game.

Apart from Grondona, the main target is the general manager Carlos Bilardo who had a stormy relationship with Maradona over the last two years.

"He (Bilardo) is behind all of this, there is no doubt about it," said a close colleague of Maradona who wished to remain anonymous.

The 71-year-old Bilardo, who was coach when Maradona guided Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986, has also been fingered by the press as the man behind Diego's downfall.

"The only one who came through unscathed and even strengthened from this little history of betrayal, impudence and the battles of ego and vanity is him, Carlos Salvador Bilardo," said the daily Clarin.

"This is the same man who said in April 2009 that if Maradona was going to quit or if they were going to fire Maradona, then he should step down immediately."

Bilardo, who will be staying to the end of his contract in 2011, now appears to have a free hand in appointing the next coach who would take over for the September 7 friendly against Spain in Buenos Aires.

One name in the frame is Alejandro Sabella, 55, who led Estudiantes to the Copa Libertadores last year - a club where Bilardo played for five years and later coached.

Other potential candidates include Miguel Angel Russo (Racing Club) and Sergio Batista, currently in charge of the Argentine under-20s and who helped steer the country to Olympic glory in the Beijing Games in 2008.

Batista has been chosen to select a squad for the August 11 friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

AFP

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