God Help Us

If King Yob is chosen, then that's it for Malaysian football.

Jostling begins in FAM

JOHOR BARU: The FA of Malaysia (FAM) congress will only be held in September but the fight for the posts in the association has already started.

And sadly for fans, who have been clamouring for change, most of those doing the jostling are the old faces.

Deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had resigned from all positions in the association and secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad will step down when his two-year term expires next month.

And one of those eyeing the seat vacated by the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang is incumbent vice-president Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, who is also the FAM competitions committee chairman. He, of all people, has to take the blame for this season's messy M-League.

When news that Raja Ahmad, who is also a member of Parliament, had enlisted the help of his competitions committee members to lobby for him, those outside his camp sprang into action.

“Yes. We had a meeting in Shah Alam (recently). It was a hurriedly arranged meeting after learning that Raja Ahmad has made known his intentions to go for the vacant number two post. We are not happy with that for several reasons.

“There is a lot of unhappiness in the states over the manner in which the competitions committee handled things this season. Each time we complained, we were told that it was the council's decision. But we believe it was more of a “one-man decision”.

“This year's M-League is a big mess. It has been a bitter lesson for us and it is time we pick only those who can work - this is our secret pact,” said one official.

Former FAM vice-president Datuk Suleiman Mohd Noor, meanwhile, has called on FAM not to handle national teams any more. Instead, he said, a corporation consisting of sport-minded people, and headed by the Prime Minister, should be set up “to move football back to its original respectable level.”

“There are still many football brains that are capable of bringing back the shine to the game. Give them the due recognition. Stop the politicking for the sake of the sport,” said Suleiman, a former national manager
Taken from The Star