Jason Taylor is only a little bitter and anything but twisted after being shown the door at Wests Tigers.
Opening up for the first time since his sacking last month, Taylor admits he never saw his dismissal coming and remains disappointed in how the board went about it.
But the 46-year-old holds no grudge and is adamant he still has a future as an NRL coach, saying he would not change a thing from his two years at the club.
"I leave with my integrity completely intact and I feel really positive about the difference I made at the club," Taylor said on Fox Sports' League Life program.
"I'm enormously confident in my coaching ability. I feel that I was doing a really, really positive job and more opportunities will come along and I look forward to the next challenge."
While refusing to go into detail, Taylor believes the Tim Simona betting scandal had a major impact on the team and particularly on that fateful afternoon the Tigers were thrashed by Penrith hours after the story broke.
After another thrashing the following week - this time by Canberra - Taylor was fired, just three rounds into the 2017 premiership season.
Taylor suspects the Simona controversy and endless contract negotiations with the club's so-called big four of skipper Aaron Woods, fullback James Tedesco and halves Mitch Moses and Luke Brooks - coming after last year's Robbie Farah saga - were big factors in his axing.
"There's been a lot written and most of it's not too far off," he said.
"In the end, it was protracted negotiations with these four players and it came to a head as a bit of a perfect storm and I was the scapegoat in that.
"It's part of coaching and I've got to get in with life and get on with my coaching career. I've learnt so much over my last couple of seasons at Wests Tigers, some really great stuff in regards to dealing with some real issues."
What hurt Taylor most finding out through the media.
"I didn't get to talk to anybody," he said.
"There was a phone call. I was at work in the office working with the other coaches and stuff started coming through and journalists started turning up outside the window and it was clear."
Taylor believes the club "has lurched into a bit of a hole" since that Monday morning, but refuses to bag the board that determined his fate.
"I have been so impressed and so confident by the way the club has been run over the last two years, particularly at board level," he said.
"The board supported me in some tough decisions that I believe had to be made for the betterment of the club.
"I'd be lying if I said there were major issues. The club, in my opinion, was making great progress and that was what made that so shocking because I didn't see it coming for a second."
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