It's funny how Kia fans claim Lee Jong-beom's retirement was Sun Dong-yol's doing

‌Fans of other teams were also shaking their heads back then.
First of all, it is true that Lee Jong-beom was not a regular-caliber player at that time.
His performance was on a continuous downward trend, and he simply didn't have the skill to be used as a starter.
On top of that, he was quite old.
Even if the club suggested retirement, Lee Jong-beom probably held out by refusing.
Of course, Lee Jong-beom's fans often argue that he was better than players like Shin Jong-gil, Yoon Wan-ju, or Lee Jun-ho.
Shin Jong-gil would have been around 30, so retirement was practically a formality due to generational shifts.
(It was also a "formality" that Yang Jun-hyuk wasn't used because they wanted to replace him with Kang Bong-gyu, Shim Kwang-ho, and Park Jung-hwan).
But ultimately, it's the manager's choice.
Whether to use player B even if player A is slightly better is up to the manager.
It's not like Lee Jong-beom was significantly better than his juniors...
But the method used was wrong.
Lee Jong-beom mentioned on YouTube that after Sun Dong-yol took office, he even asked the club about it.
Lee Jong-beom isn't a fool; Sun Dong-yol, who had retired Yang Jun-hyuk at Samsung, had arrived.
He asked about his future position, but since they said nothing was wrong,
he prepared during the off-season,
went to training camp to practice,
and just as he was about to play in the exhibition games,
he was told to retire.
What Sun Dong-yol did wrong was:
1. He should have spoken to Lee Jong-beom directly.
In European football, why does Pep Guardiola get ignored by the players who played under him?
It's because he doesn't speak to the players directly and instead speaks in circles (telling players like Messi or Xavi to relay the message).
No matter how angry Lee Jong-beom was, if Sun Dong-yol had personally comforted him, the situation could have been handled gracefully in the media.
Lee Soon-chul spoke on his behalf—perhaps because he and Lee Jong-beom were on good terms—but Sun should have done it himself.
2. He could have just left him in the minor league (2nd team).
Lee Soon-chul told him to go to the 2nd team before the exhibition games.
Lee Jong-beom said OK.
Lee Soon-chul was taken aback.
Lee Soon-chul then tried to persuade him, saying, "The manager says he will absolutely never use you, so just retire."
When phasing out most veterans, you just leave them in the 2nd team.
Even with LG's Lee Byung-kyu, no matter how well he did in the 2nd team, Yang Sang-moon would never call him up to the 1st team.
Lee Byung-kyu must have been very frustrated, but over the course of a year, his emotions would have settled,
allowing him to retire gracefully with a retirement ceremony.
But in Lee Jong-beom's case, they told him to retire just as he was about to start the season and even told him not to play in 2nd team games...
That's why Lee Jong-beom's emotions exploded.
He should have either:
1. Retired him immediately upon taking office,
2. Not taken him to training camp in the first place,
3. If he took him to training camp, let him play in 2nd team games and then call him up to the 1st team at the end of the season so he could retire to applause,
4. Or, if he took him to training camp but felt bad knowing he would suffer needlessly in the 2nd team,
he should have met him personally to persuade him.