Antoine Hey says he may want to return to club management

The Liberia Football Association (LFA) says it believes it can hold on to coach Antoine Hey, whatever happens in qualifying for the 2010 World and Nations Cups.

The German coach said earlier this week that he was keen to return to club football if Liberia fail to make it through to the next round.

The Lone Star have just two points from four games so far and lie bottom of Group 6.

But the Secretary-General of the LFA, George Williams, says he thinks Hey can be persuaded to stay.

"We believe he's not going to go anywhere," Williams told the BBC's African sports programme Fast Track.

"His concern is that if we don't qualify it means the national team is not going to be active for two years.

"He's saying to us we need to set up a programme now so that these players are engaged, so that come post 2010 we're not going to be starting from point blank.

"Whether we qualify for 2010 or not we have a very good basis from which to move on and we'd like to give him support."

George Williams said the LFA would be working with the coach to develop the side.

"It is only reasonable that if we don't put together a programme that is meaningful enough to keep him engaged, why would he be here? Like any professional he wants to stay engaged and relevant."