Friday, May 7, 2010

National setup should be based on meritocracy


National coach Raddy has hit out at those who criticised FAS for employing too many Serbian in the National Setup after the appointment of Dejan Gluscevicthus as it new NFA U14 coach thus ‘depriving’ locals a chance.

I am on the side of Raddy on this one - not because he is Raddy - for those who read what I written before; my stand on two matters - match-fixing and meritocracy for National setup - is set in stone.

That why I do not wish to see Abbas ever coaching any level in Singapore as his ideas of match-fixing is much different from locals and it is no different now with talks FAS should set aside jobs at the National setup specially for locals.

One have to ask if that is indeed the right choice as the defence for such actions is giving locals their chances but why can’t they start with local clubs at the S-league level.

That is what S-league is also meant for; besides giving young players their break.

After all, when FAS appoint any person, whether local or foreign, to the National Setup, that person has to get to work immediately as this is where the top local players are and their potential cannot wait while the person ‘learn’ on the job.

If Gluscevicthus main contest is indeed with Nasri Nazri, then there is no contest.

We only need to look across the Causeway to see what happen when one considered factors other than the development of our youths.

It is no secret FAM have a system whereby plum jobs in administration and coaching are left to their well-connected local players without consideration of whether they fit the job or if it in the best interest of the youths.

That why their youth development have suffered for who can forget the debut of Indra Putra back in the 2002 Tiger Cup as a 20-year-old and he is often described as the best player of his generation but the player have never scaled the height of 2002 again.

After that kind of experience, it was no surprise, after winning the SEA Games gold medal, FAM decided not to hand those youngsters back to their coaching staffs at state level and that included those at FAM; showing how much faith they have of their own staffs.

For those coaching staffs at FAM, according to a Star news report, were paid RM$20000 a month with one staff admitting he is not good at it but he will not quit as it was too well-paid a job.

Is it really the best for FAS or even Singapore football then if we were to follow the actions of FAM and left our youths in the hands of, not the best but rather, the ‘well-connected’.

It should also extend to all top level of our football system, including our National Team coach, as after this outburst from Raddy; he will no doubt be hit by more critics who will clamor for a local.

And one popular option will be Fandi Ahmad but looking at his record with Indonesian Super Liga (ISL), where other than a couple best of mid-table finishes and bringing his club to the first Division (He will not have that on his resume as he is currently put on ‘compassion’ leave), what has he done.

If he was not a local, with such a record, will he even be mention for our top post and Fandi cannot be considered among the best of the local coaches as Richard Bok has a better record in the S-league and Asia than our famous footballer.

This show how we be ruled by such sentiment when it come to reserving jobs for our locals and those who end up getting it may be the ‘well-connected’ or famous and it is us who get hurt in the end.

That what happen in 1998 as in our desire to get a local to be our Lions coach, we went for Vincent Subramaniam without any consideration if he was really fit for the job.

We got our answers at the SEA Games and Tiger Cup campaign of 99 and 2000.

Let learn from 1998 as well as the lessons of FAM for we are surely not that dumb.

Locals should be proven at S-league level for a period of time (Like 7 years which most Italian coaches have to prove first at the lower level) before they are even considered for the National Setup and it should be based on meritocracy and nothing else.

No comments: