Selangor defender hit with life ban

Selangor Lebanon defender Ramez Dayoub has been banned for life for match-fixing by his LFA.

He will likely be dismissed by Selangor according to the media

The player is not likely to play anymore part in the Malaysian Super League or AFC Cup until his sacking is confirmed.

The 28-year-old is among 23 Lebanon players banned for match-fixing of their national team results.

Tampines and Warriors appeal fixtures

Both Tampines Rovers and Warriors FC are set to appeal against the fixture list that have been released.

The reason is the fixture list is set up against them as apart from the S-league they have the AFC Cup to contend with and the released fixture list will have them playing many games in a short amount of time.

That is why they may not be able to use their best 11 all the time.

For me, the worst part was not the badly done fixture list but the part of the FAS spokesman being quoted that FAS was sorry games have to be on weekend at times.

I do not know if he meant it but why is it S-league games cannot be on weekend and it is a step backwards as a club official anonymity noted.
 
For me, it is not we cannot do a proper fixture list but the people who are doing it are not doing with S-league in mind but the interest of the president (I do not need to quote name but it is him) who they aim to please.

That is why there can be no progress no matter who the next FAS president until we have a situation where S-league is run by people chosen by clubs and not FAS, with no disrespect to current S-league CEO Lim, whose interest it is clearly in conflict with now.

But even Lim bowed to FAS president as far as I can see for everytime his announcement he noted he has to get approval first and that is not good for anybody.

For if was really the top man in S-league hierarchy then he does not need to seek approval for he will be the one bearing the credit or the blame.

Afterall Tampines and Warriors are fighting for S-league interest in Asia yet matter are staked against them because of a team who is playing across the causeway and nothing is considered about S-league own interest in this matter.
 

Jaguars win their opener

Two years after their return to the S-league, new coach Patrick Vallee have lead Tanjong Pagar United to their first opening day victory in 12 years.

Not since 2001 when the Jaguars defeated Marine Castle 1-0 have the club won a game on their opening day.

And the Frenchman have himself to thanks for that as he recruited correctly in pre-season as his French recruits Monsef Zerka and Kamel Ramdani fired the Jaguars into a two-goal lead in under 10 minutes

By the time Balestier Khalsa woke up from their disaster started they were left with a task which proved too deep even as they mount a min-comeback as Zulkiffli Hassim fired a goal back and the Tigers had rattled the crossbar twice in between by Qiu Li which could have done the impossible.

It was not to be as substitute Hafiz Nor scored possibility the goal of the season to seal a 3-1 win.

In another match, Albirex Niigata (S) beat Harimau Muda 1-0 thank to a Kazuki Sakamoto goal.

Tanjong Pagar United
Aurelien Herrison (GK), Anthony Aymard, Hanafi Salleh, Walid Lounis, Azhar Ahmad, K. Vikraman, Ahmad Latiff, Kamel Ramdani, Asraf Rashid (Zahid Ahmad 61'), Monsef Zerka, Ismael Benahmed (Hafiz Nor 86')

Balestier Khalsa
Daniel Ong (GK), Yusiskandar Yusop (Poh Yi Feng 73'), Jaslee Hatta, Obadin Aikhena, Syed Thaha, Ruhaizad Ismail, Tengku Mushadad (Ridwan Jamil 39'), Park Kang-jin, Hamqaamal Shah (Zulkiffli Hassim 46'), Qiu Li, Jung Hee-bong

A night of draws

Both matchup on the night ended in draw with Home United drawing 0-0 with League Cup champions DPMM Brunei while Woodlands Wellington earn a 2-2 draw with Warriors FC.

Home United coach Paul Lee was delighted with his defence but admit the attack will have to click soon as he acknowledged the players was still getting to know each others and adapting to the team style of play now.

As for the match in Woodlands, it was certainly not defence which dominate as right from the start, the home side went at eight-time champions Warriors and got a spot-kick after just 4 minutes.

Last season Rams top scorer Moon Soon-ho fired his kick back off the post though after sending Hassan Sunny the wrong way and the score remain 0-0.

The Korean make up for it as he finally got the opener after a save from Hassan Sunny left him with an open goal but Warriors will pull back through Sufian Anuar early in the second half.

Yet again though the Warriors which was poor last season was punished as a quick freekick fooled them and Rams marquee signing Khalid Hamdaoui was left alone to fire the home side into the lead again.

The Warriors though was not to lose their opener for the second year running as Shimpei Sakurada got the equaliser.

Home United
Jang Hong-won (GK), Firdaus Idros, Ismail Yunos, Noh Rahman (C), Sirina Camara, Nor Azli Yusoff, Lee Kwan-woo, Hafiz Rahim, Indra Sahdan Daud (Aliff Shafaein 46'), Jordan Webb, Masato Fukui
---------------

Woodlands Wellington
Yazid Yasin (GK), Sunghwan Cho, Shahril Alias, Rosman Sulaiman (Hidhir Hasbiallah), Khalid Hamdaoui, Atsushi Shimono, Armanizam Dolah (C), Farizal Basri (Taufiq Rahmat 68'), Ang Zhiwei, Chang Jo Yoon (Goh Swee Swee 82'), Soon Ho Moon

Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Abdil Qaiyyim, Daniel Bennett DF (C), Marin Vidosevic, Kazuyuki Toda, Tatsuro Inui, Shimpei Sakurada, Shi Jiayi, Zakir Samsudin, Sufian Anuar, Erwan Gunawan (Prakash Manikam 65')

Champions open with a bang

If there was any doubt why many punters and fans have make the champions favourite again for the title, it was gone by the end of the night as Tampines run riot with Derby rival Geylang at Bedok.

It was the Eastern Derby which the Eagles was to show they were back, or at least proved it was the first step on their way back to the top again, after their re-branding in pre-season when they were the first club to announce their squad and a change back to the name Geylang International.

But after a 0-5 drubbing the reality is the club is still far from their glory days of the SPL era.

The champions were good but they were help by a number of Eagles mistakes time and time again on the pitch as Sead Hadzibulic, Shaiful Esah, Firdaus Kasman, Jamil Ali and Khairul Amri notched their goals.

Whether it was because the Bedok players have not gel yet and it was just an off day time will tell but after this result, they do not have much of it at all.

In another match, Hougang open their account with a 1-0 win over Courts Young Lions at Jalan Besar.

Syaqir Bin Sulaiman got the winner.

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Khairulnizam Jumahat (Wahyudi Wahid 83'), Delwinder Singh, Norihiro Kawakami, Duncan Elias (Amy Recha 44'), Fabian Kwok, Shah Hirul (Taufiq Ghani 76'), Yasir Hanapi, Jozef Kaplan (C), Jalal, Shotaro Ihata.

Tampines Rovers
Sasa Dreven (GK), Jufri Taha, Kunihiro Yamashita, Seiji Kaneko, Shaiful Esah, Firdaus Kasman, Mustafic Fahrudin (C), Martin Wagner (Shannon Stephen 70'), Jamil Ali, Shahdan Sulaiman (Khairul Amri 76'), Sead Hadzibulic (Ismadi Mukhtar 83')
----------

CYL
Rudy Khairullah (GK), Al-Qaasimy Rahmann (C), Nurullah Hussein, Firman Hanif, Emmeric Ong, Anumanthan Kumar (Ignatius Ang 50'), Shamil Sharif, Nur Ridho (Faiz Salleh 73'), Afiq Noor, Sahil Suhaim, Sufianto Salleh (Tajeli Salamat 80')

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman, Hasree Zais, Lau Meng Meng (C), Jeremy Chiang, Thomas Beattie,  Baker Jerome (Fazli Jaffar 62'), Sobrie Mazelan, Fairoz Hasan (Faizal Amir 62'), Mamadou Diallo, Eziakor Robert (Liam Shotton 74')

Balestier Khalsa Squad

Goalkeeper
Zakariah Nerani
Daniel Ong

Defender
Yusiskandar Yusop
Hamqaamal Shah
Paul Cunningham
Jaslee Hatta
Syed Thaha
Obadin Aikhena 

Midfielder
Shafuan Sutohmoh
Ridwan Jamil
Ruhaizad Ismail
Tengku Mushadad
Park Kang Jin
Poh Yi Feng

Strikers
Jung Hee Bong
Qiu Li
Zulkiffli Hassim
Patrick Paran
Kim Min Ho  
Andrew Tan

Attractive football with winning mentality

Home United Korean coach Paul Lee has promise a new Home United which will play attractive football with a winning mentality as he believes he has a lot to offer the local game.

The 43-year-old said: "My motivation was that I missed football so much that I wanted the challenge.

"I learn a lot of things from the good foreign players who were playing in Korea and I want to share the same things with my teammates here in Singapore.

"A lot of people say the level of football in South Asia isn't the same as Korea and Japan.

"But I realised that wasn't the case when I came here, so I wanted the challenge."

That why Lee wants his team to play good football even when aiming for the league and cups.

He said: "The current players are identified and signed by Home United for their belief in our football philsosophy which is based on fitness, discipline and commitment.

"The team will play attractive football with a winning mentality.

Home United squad

Goalkeeper
Jang Hong Won
Shahril Jantan

Defender
Sofiyan Abdul Hamid
Juma'at Jantan
Noh Rahman
Sevki Sha'ban
Ismail Yunos
Sinrama Camara 

Midfielders
Nor Azli Yusoff
Aliff Shafaein
Firdaus Idros
Lee Kwan-Woo
Mustaqim Manzur
Masrezwan Masturi

Striker
Fukui Masato
Hafiz Rahim
Jordan Webb
Indra Shahdan
Song Ui Yong

Players in bold are foreign signings 

Cubs get El-Masri

The Courts Young Lions have announced they have captured their first foreign and only foreign signing of the season.

And it is Canadian Sherif El-Masri, who was one of their players last term.

"It looked as though last year was going to be my final year," he said. "But... one more year I guess!

"I was always in their plans but I guess they just took awhile to contact me. I was about to go somewhere else but then they actually called me back last week, so I just came in today [Monday] at five in the evening and straight to training.

"It was all of a sudden but I was okay with it so I just said 'why not?'"

The 23-year-old is under the radar of the FAS for the FTS.

Brunei DPMM S-league squad

Subhi Abdillah

Azman Ilham

Wardun Yussof

Rosmin Kamis

Sairol Sahari

Shahrazen Said

Sallehuddin Damit

Azwan Salleh

Shahrul Rizal

Suhaime Yussof

Helmi Zambin

Abdul Aziz Tamit

Najib Tarif

Fakharazzi Hassan

Hendra Azam

Fakrul Zulhazmi

Adi Said

Nurul Azami

Amalul Ariffin

Stephen Auvrey

Joao Vitor Rocha

Ricardo Dos Santos

Dino Drpic

Ivan Bosnjak

Webb can be best attacker

Home United coach Paul Lee believe Jordan Webb can be the best attacker in the S-league.

The Canadian winger cum forward had been impressive at Hougang United for the past 3 seasons where the club and him have gone from strength to strength

Yet Paul Lee thinks his new signing still has room for improvement and signs in pre-season have been encouraging for the Korean to predict an even brighter future.

Lee said :''Regarding Jordan Webb, he is top scorer among the team during our pre-season tour.

"I can say that he is one of the strongest attackers in Home United and I feel that he respect my professionalism and he is improving.

"He has improved physically, mentally and tactically. He's not perfect, but I believe that if he keeps this way, he can become the best attacker in the S-league.
  

Home new defence forming

Home United have started to rebuild their defence as they get Cubs French defender Sirina Camara.

The Protectors had released their central pairing of Kenjia Arai and Franklin Anzitéa at the end of the season as they seek to forget their forgettable 2012 season where they finish fifth in the league.

With Bulls Ismail Yunos also joining after Gombak pulled out, it looked liked they could be the new central pairing in the team.

Other than that right fullback Juma'at Jantan have return back to Home United and another defender Sevki Sha'ban have sign for the club.

Also custodian Lionel Lewis has retired and the Protectors have got former international Shahril Jantan and new signing Korean Jang Hong-won as his replacement.

The 2013 Protectors defence will have a totally different look about it.

Third in a row for Tampines

2013 - In Aid of MINDS Fernvale Gardens School and AWWA Community Home for Seniors

GREAT EASTERN CHARITY SHIELD 2013

Tampines Rovers 2-1 Warriors FC

Scorer: Kunihiro Yamashita (8'), Khairul Amri (12') / Sufian Anuar (55') 

Tampines Rovers

• Sasa Dreven (GK)
• Jufri Taha
• Kunihiro Yamashita
• Seiji Kaneko
• Shaiful Esah
• Mustafic Fahrudin
• Martin Wagner (Firdaus Kasman 76')
• Imran Sahib (Ahmed Fahmie 40')
• Shahdan Sulaiman
• Khairul Amri (Jamil Ali 64')
• Aleksandar Duric (C)

Warriors FC

• Hassan Sunny (GK)
• Ruzaini Zainal (Abdil Qaiyyim 78')
• Daniel Bennett (C)
• Marin Vidosevic
• Zakir Samsudin
• Shi Jiayi (Prakash Manikam 68')
• Kazuyuki Toda
• Shimpei Sakurada
• Tatsuro Inui
• Erwan Gunawan
• Sufian Anuar

V.Selvaraj: Top 3 or I am out

Warriors FC new coach V.Selvaraj have set himself a goal of a top 3 finish by July or he will quit.

The former international took over the role over head coach from Richard Bok after the end of last season and before that he was the assistant coach.

The reason he has issued such an ultimatum is to show the players, the fans and the management he just not want the club to just make up the number.

Admitting that a return to the glory days of the past is way overdue, the 43-year-old reveals he will not settle for anything less than a spot in the top three this season, a marked improvement from last season's disappointing seventh-place finish.

"My aim is definitely for us to finish in the top three," he said. "If not, I don't think I would have taken this job or be participating in the S.League as a coach.

"We are Warriors FC - we have to always look to achieve something. If you ask me, we must win.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself but I don't want the pressure to be on the players; I'll soak it all in and let them relax and enjoy the game. But along the way, it's important for us to win titles.

"We have to get back on track as we have been missing in action for quite a while. We may have won the Singapore Cup last season but the league matters a lot.

"We have been there before so we can be there again. It's about time we did just that."

It is believed the players have responded to it positively and they are aiming to achieved the coach goal.

Still, the 43-year-old know it will take the players a while to get use to his style and his instruction on the pitch but he believed they can already see the positives.

"I'm definitely pleased with what the boys have shown so far in pre-season and I'm very happy."

"There are so many things I can praise them for - their professionalism, discipline, attitude, the communication they have shown - these were the things I was really focusing more on.

"We are definitely looking to peak at the right time. In terms of preparation, I'm very happy and everybody is very positive."

Stewart fine with squad

Despite being the only club without a fifth foreigner, Balestier coach Darren Stewart is fine with the situation of his squad.

Especially as they have strengthen their squad as they have captured Singapore forward Qiu Li, former Gombak United centreback Obadin Aikhena and goalkeeper Zaiful Nizam.

“They’re absolutely superb players. Qiu Li showed his class with that goal and he’s exactly what we need in this team," the Australian said.

That is why he is not worry if the Toa Poyah signed another foreigner even as the club continue to look for a player who fit into the marquee status they are seeking.

“Yeah we’re still looking for that player, let’s see what happens. If we get one it’ll be good, or else there’s no problem if we don’t," the 46-year-old claimed.

Churchill clash with AIFF over players

I-league club Churchill FC have clashed with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for their players and is threatening to pull out of the AFC Cup.

With India preparing for the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers, three of Churchill have been called up to the national team and AIFF is refusing to released them for the AFC Cup

India’s opening match in the AFC Challenge Cup is against Chinese Taipei on March 2 in Myanmar while Churchill are set to play in AFC Cup on February 26.

The Indian club feel AIFF can release the players as there are three days after the AFC Cup game to get to Mynamar but Wim Koevermans, Indian national coach, is planning to take the team to Myanmar on February 26 is unwilling to do so.

The Indian club is grouped with Warriors FC, Indonesian side Semen Padang and Hong Kong champions Kitchee FC.

Hussainar: Rams in good financial health

With Woodlands Wellington filling up a full 20-man squad for the club, the first of all local sides this season to use up their full complement of spots.

There were questions if it was a reflection of an improvement in the club’s finances.

Rams chairman Hussainar Abdul Aziz asserted that money was indeed flowing into the club, although he gave no specific figures.

“If you compare the situation to three years ago, Woodlands were not in a good financial state three years ago,” he said.

“What the management here’s done is we have stabilised the club, and in terms of financing, there will be no issues this year. We are in good financial health, I can assure.

“We have expanded our jackpot operations to bring in more money for the club, and takings have increased tremendously in the past year. We are also actively trying to find a main sponsor.

“The club’s looking at all avenues now to increase the takings of the club and further improve our financial health. Merchandising is one thing we’re looking at, but the reality in Singapore is that you can’t sell too much that way, and we’re hoping our fans will support and help the club.”

Rams for top 3

Woodlands Wellington head coach Salim Moin have declare that he was setting his squad a goal of finishing in the top three in the 12-team S.League.

That kind of finish was achieved only three times in the club’s history, the last occasion coming in 2005, yet Salim seemed confident as he spoke of the upcoming season.

“As head coach of this club, I am very pleased to say that this year will be a better year for Woodlands,” noted the 51-year-old.

“We have signed some very quality players for the team. If you see from the expressions of my players, they are very excited, and we want to be in a better position than last year.

“I’m a very bold and outspoken person, and I think the players I have selected this time will finish much better than last year, maybe somewhere in the top three. I have confidence in the team, and the players have confidence in me.

“If we aim for anything less than the top three, our players might be lazy and won’t work so hard. But I’m not going to put pressure on my team; they know what they are looking at, and their minds are on playing football, nothing else.”

The 2013 campaign marks Salim’s second in charge of Woodlands, having moved to the club from Balestier Khalsa at the start of 2012.

Woodlands Wellington squad revealed

GOALKEEPERS:
Ahmadulhaq Che Omar
Yazid Yasin

DEFENDERS:
Rosman Sulaiman
Shahril Alias
Hidhir Hasbiallah
Cho Sung Hwan
Shariff Samat Allapitchay

MIDFIELDERS:
Armanizam Dolah
Farizal Basri
Oswind Suriya
Ang Zhiwei
Atsushi Shimono
Taufiq Rahmat
Ridhwan Osman
Khalid Hamdaoui

FORWARDS:
Goh Swee Swee
Moon Soon-Ho
Fadhil Noh
Chang Jo-Yoon 

Players in bold are foreign signings  

Rams snap up Shariff Abdul Samat

On-time Home United, Tampines Rovers and Hougang defender Shariff Abdul Samat have return to the S-league with Woodlands Wellington.

The 29-year-old had spend last season with Admiralty FC in the National Football League as he could not find a S-league team willing to take a chance on him.

There is no doubt on his football abilities but his reputation as a hot-tempered player is not a secret and it affected his career.

His last club Hougang United released him as he could not keep out of trouble with yellow and red and his chairman Bill Ng decided he was not worth the effort.

It is hoped the past year he will have reflected on him and he will focus more on football now.

Harimau Muda squad for 2013 S-league

Goalkeepers
Hafizul Hakim
Ramadhan Abdul Hamid
Ilham Amirullah Razali

Defenders
S. Vikneswaren
Ashmawi Yakin
Asri Mardzuki
Wan Ahmad Amirzafran Wan Nadris
Nashriq Yahya
Osman Yusoff
Syawal Nordin
Syazwan Tajudin

Midfielders
Nur Areff Kamaruddin
Syafiq Salihin
Hafis Saperi
Ridzuan Abdunloh Pulo
Ibrahim Jobeli
Yazid Zaini
Shreen Tambi
Hanif Mat Dzahir
Akhir Bahari
Azzizan Nordin
Maxsius Musa
Asyraf Abdul Talib

Forwards
Farizzuan Azhar
Norhamizaref Hamid
Akmal Ishak
Iskandar Hanapiah
Faizat Ghazli

2015 ACQ: Jordan thrashed Singapore

If it was a football lesson in the first half, it was a finishing lesson in the second period as Jordan hit 3 more goals to win 4-0.

Clearly their coach have instructed them to get into the box before firing off their shots as in the first period, a number of them attempted Gerrad-type shooting rather than play the ball around to stretch Singapore defence.

They did that in the second period and the reward was they got 3 more goals.

Not wanting to sound like an old maid but I will still repeat - We need a West Asian tour every year like back in Ho Peng Kee era, whoever is the next FAS president as let not kid ourselves; playing Malaysia teams are nothing compared to West Asian sides and it is the only way to improve.

Singapore
Izwan Mahbud (GK), Daniel Bennett, Baihakki Khaizan, Safuwan Baharudin, Shakir Hamzah, Isa Halim, Noh Rahman, Shahril Ishak (C) (Ismail Yunos), Shahdan Sulaiman , Farzul Nawaz (Sufian Anuar), Khairul Amri (Shaiful Esah)

2015 ACQ: Jordan lead 1-0 at the break

A football lesson by Jordan.

The pitch was in a bad condition but the technical skill of the Jordanian are without question. They control the ball so well that even when they lose control they can recovered it back easily.

One can tell nobody in ASEAN, even the Thai, will match them in the technical side of thing.

Yet Jordan is not considered the best in their region where they are many like them.

It showed the gulf in class between West Asia and ASEAN and ASEAN has much to catch up as tonight we may see ASEAN teams all lose their games as the Thai has gone down 1-3 to Kuwait and Vietnam 1-2 to UAE already.

Another Asian Cup without any ASEAN teams could be a possibility and nobody is to blame but ourselves.

Legacy of a terrible President

Maybe it is still too early to talk on a legacy about a departing President as Zainudin Nordin still has two months to go as FAS President but once the S-league start I do not wish to talk about a man who, in my eye, had given the local league the short end of the straw and with CNY next week, there is no better time.

Also with the man already at the helm for 46 out of his 48 months appointment and if one still cannot decide on his legacy by now then it is unlikely one will decide on it based on the final two months.

But where do one start.

I would say at the beginning where my first POV article asked for him to speak up but soon one was to know why it is better for him to have never spoken at all.

Indeed he had a mouth, in my view, that seem to be not at all connected with his brain as whenever it open he always make promises that are build high up in the sky and virtually impossible to keep thus only making things worse down the road.

Of course, in my view now, he may have a different reason why he kept his mouth shut at that time but more on that later.

His mouth show up as he talk about the now-forgotten Strategic Plan where he make many promises but now as he near the end of his reign, has anything been kept and I knew it was going to be difficult to implement the plan but it was the way he went about it that was the problem.

After milking the positive vibes, Football Association of Singapore (FAS) under our FAS president seem to be throwing darts hoping to hit one of them and nothing illustrate this better than the crown jewel of the Plan -  the National Training Centre.

Right from the start, any sane person will tell him it was impossible to get the Farrer Park land and to have promised that he was building himself up for failure and once he realised it, he told us the Toa Payoh site was also a good alternative but yet again he failed to appreciative Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) already had it own plans and it was never going to work.

Next he tell us Taman Jurong can do as well but considering how badly run-down the site is and how unappealing it is to investors, the cost will be prohibitive and he does not have the money yet so it ended with another brick wall again.

So one get the picture, he was just going around in circle promising one thing after another without accomplishing anything   

Before anybody think it is just the ranting of a fan, the fact 2012 witness Yeo's (major S-league sponsor) and then Courts (Sponsor of Cubs - FAS run team) one by one going to the media or more precisely MediaCorp, as they must know Singapore Press Holding (SPH) will not listen to them much like our FAS President (more on that later), and this tell us his performance in the eye of the stakeholders.

Afterall in interview with SPH papers, he keep telling us 'he was always in constant talks with sponsors (like Yeo's and Courts) and they always support him'.

Then why was it they tell a different story as they told us his actions do not match his words.

It had to be with that mouth of his and it had shown it 'power' in 2011.

Of course once it turn negative on our FAS president he was quick to tell us he was misquoted by SPH Malay paper Berita Harian.

It seem our FAS president does not realise where the problem is and it is not Berita Hariun.

Indeed I do not pity him much as shown in my articles like - My thoughts on FAS president Zainudin Nordin and Zainduin should look after his organisation and not be head coach as well - as he keep breaking promises and his focus, in my view, is suspect.

As shown in the second link, our FAS President focus, in the same year he spoke out on the Strategic Plan, was a joke as he spend the next year not preparing to implement the plan but talking about Singtel and Starhub to the World Cup.

He had a job to do but it seem he was always talking about foreign football and nothing on the job he had at hand.

Also unlikely those promises earlier in the article which were near-to-impossible to keep, much easier one such as the promise of no levy to FAM and a U23 MSL team that could have been kept but it was never the case.

People can talk about the difficulties but let remember the words of former PAP leader & PM Lee Kwan Yew who noted why the western world public fell out of love with their political parties, whoever is in power, as they all make promises they were never likely to keep and that is why he loath to make promises.

The now 88-year-old know, whether in power or not, he cannot take promises lightly for he has to keep them no matter what once the occasion call for it.

For if he break even one of the promise, the question will be why they should trust him again.

And yet our FAS President proceed to break the above two mentioned promises in less than 6 months when it was fresh out of the oven with a 10% levy to FAM along with all travelling costs by MSL rivals beared by FAS and a U28 team.

He can give whatever reasons but this show he does not take his words or promises seriously and is not worthy of being trusted.

Beyond that, back to the question of his commitment to any cause he spell out for last year in July, he told SPH paper TNP, in trying to dissipate the image he never gave S-league any attention, that he had worked on the S-league part of the Strategic Plan for the best part of two years.

My response - Two years!!! What can one really do in two years!!!

Way back in 2010, I already questioned the logic of the establishment in building the foundation for S-league.

One cannot achieved anything if one is intending to stick with any plan for just a few years and there is no better example than Stroke who I wrote about then.

The club, thanked to their Bet 365 owner, continue to build on their foundation while another BPL club Aston Villa is suffering as their American owner pulled back after just the first few years of extra funding.

Also as our FAS president is from PAP, can I question the government then as it is nearly 18 months since they formed the new government but they have not solved the transportation to housing problems etc

Of course I will be deemed as unreasonable as solution may take years and much of it will only be ready beyond the new General Election in 2016 and this showed how long one has to commit.

But I am not the person who is unreasonable, it is the leadership especially our current FAS head that is unreasonable as they continued to press for two to three years deadline for sports especially S-league.

At the same time, our FAS president do not have any rights to defend himself as whenever trouble struck he does his Houdini act.

In link five, I already talk about his disappearance after the cock up for Duric 300th goal celebration while in the first link, after the problems caused by Alam Shah comments, our leader was also nowhere in sight so whenever we need a leader he has shown he is not that man.

Yet nothing compared to 2011 in link three and four, after the anger caused by our FAS President words, he had to enlist the clubs chairman and our national coach Raddy who held one press conference after another to support him while he disappear without a trace.
 
However for that part of history, SPH paper reporter Gray Lim will claim he was a brave and bold leader for his action (Which is what as he was not around) so we can see why the sponsors like Yeo's and Courts rather go to MediaCorp than SPH.

Indeed if he was brave and bold then where was he for the deputy S-league CEO saga as let remember he was quoted by SPH paper Straits Times that he was the sole decision maker for the post of both S-league CEO and his deputy as he wanted to appoint both at the same time so S-league can take off immediately. 

If that the case why was it once there was trouble regarding the deputy the person to answer it was the newly appointed S-league CEO Mr Lim while a now familiar scene develop as our FAS President perform yet another Houdini act.

How can that be the action of a brave and bold leader!

The only time I see him around is where there is glory to be claimed for in July 2011 he was around for his Malaysia team for the whole week and in 2009 during the revelation of the Strategic Plan while other time (especially troubled times) it is his sacrificial lambs of FAS general-secretary Winston Lee or S-league CEO Mr Lim that appeared.

Thus as Zainudin Nordin leave we see four wasted years based on a big mouth, broken promises, Houdini acts and a glory-seeking leaderless leader who was somehow appointed in the first place.