Tuesday, May 6, 2008

YB in the dock

Haresh Deol puts YB KJ in the dock in today's MM. My only comment is that YB KJ is a deputy president, not the vice-president.

FAM has two deputy presidents, the senior DP is Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad (Perlis), and the junior one is YB KJ (Negri Sembilan but contested in FAM elections last year on Perak FA's ticket). There are four vice-presidents in FAM, namely Datuk Che Mat Jusoh (Terengganu), Afandi Hamzah (Kelantan), Ahamad Mohamad (Johor) and Datuk Gulzar Mohd Noor (Sarawak).

That little blot aside, it is a good interview.

‘Let’s skip a generation’

THESE days you can’t talk about local football without talking about Khairy Jamaluddin.

The FA of Malaysia vice-president and national team manager is a hot topic by himself.
So the charismatic MP of Rembau, widely known as just ‘KJ’, is always a compelling interview prospect for the Press.

Mailsport’s HARESH DEOL found that out last Saturday, during the interval of the KL Plus – Kuala Muda Premier League match at the Cheras Stadium.

In a terse yet forcible interview, Khairy talks about the M-League, the bookies and critics. Mailsport (MS): The MSL was formed in 2004 with the objective of raising the game’s standard. How effective has it been so far? Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ): The league has not shown much improvement.

We need to revise it. Perhaps there are simply too many matches with the leagues, the Malaysia Cup and FA Cup. It has been a little disappointing.

MS: The Super League is rather disorganised as we still don’t know how many teams will be relegated even when the season has ended.

KJ: We’ll know when the exco meeting is held on May 17. I admit it’s rather disorganised and we’ve got to look into it.

The number of teams in the Super League also needs to be addressed. A lot of other things need to be reviewed too.

MS:Would it be better to allow MSL instead of FAM to organise the league? KJ: Even if that happens, will it guarantee a raise in standard? We simply need to break everything down and start afresh.

If you asked me, perhaps we could skip a generation and concentrate on the youths. What’s the use of spending so much money at the top level when the base is not strengthened? When you get lousy players at the bottom, whatmore to expect when they reach top-flight football? I’m happy we’re working well with the Ministry of Education (through the agegroup competitions) but it’s still not enough.

We need more matches to cater for a larger pool of youngsters. It has not been encouraging so far and more needs to be done for our younger generation of players.

MS: So wouldn’t the RM17 million pumped into the Champions Youth Cup be better spent on schools? KJ: If you ask me, not as FAM vice president but as an individual, I would agree. Such money should go towards youth development.

No question about that.

(Khairy told the media earlier that the FAM are considering not sanetioning the CYC and disagree with AFC’s role in the tournament as FAM are the sport’s governing body in the country.

Also, FAM doubt the tournament is value for money.) MS: We were rocked by another match-fixing scandal. Do you think it’s time for betting to be legalised in the country? KJ: That’s for the government to decide but I don’t think it will solve the problem. There will still be illegal syndicates offering higher cuts than the legalised ones, so we’ll be back to square one.

MS: You started off with MyTeam. Today, you’re the Vice-President of FAM.

Is the SportsMinistry your next destination? KJ: No la! Nothing of that sort. I’m just looking at football for now.

MS: You seem to have many critics, from coffee shop patrons to the blogsphere.

Any comments? KJ: You’re talking about football or in general? (smiles) Either way, it’s what I do that matters. It’s all about results at the end of the day.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Disarray would be inaccurate but basically that's what THE DEPUTY President admitted. FAM is in a not-so-nice state and if he has his way, would like to dismantle and start afresh. Brave statement indeed.

The Rakyat would wait at the sidelines for big stuff to take place now that KJ's statement is not merely hearsay but clearly printed by MM. We dont need to look any further. Even while we speak FAM had not decided which teams got demoted or promoted to/from the Super League!!! Phew!! With all the bigwigs in the line-up I am flabbergasted that THIS up or down issue is actually such a major thing for FAM! Tak boleh nak decide? My of my... I say that a group of 12-year old can easily say,"Tuan2 yg Maha Bestari, 2 team teratas Premier naik, dan 2 team terbawah Super turun". Settle... Ini pun mau pecah kepala? Do we really have to wait till 17 May to decide? OMG!!!

It's moronic really. Didnt all these should or MUST have been figured out before the first ball was even kicked and hello? we are about to start with Malaysia Cup u know.

KJ (if he's really2 honest about his statement la..) really need to explore the idea of breaking all and starting afresh. This is beginning to be a joke. Bar a couple, the rest at KJ (Kelana Jaya) must be morons!! And I've not even started on the FAS issue. Ever wonder why a title-chaser turned up at fourth at the end of the season? FAM, especially the "haram" DB team got a lot to answer...

KakiBola said...

Its a typical statement by a politician (what more from a young and ambitious personality like YB KJ). Its more nonsense rather than facts.
To skip a generation? For how long? People wants result, enough of empty promises, statement here statement there, so called development here development there, million of ringgits had been spent but at the end, NO RESULT.
The MyTeam has nothing much to shout about. How many players selected from thousands who attended the trials conducted by the "EPL Coach"? And how many were given the chance to represent MyTeam in the Premier League? Lets check again in the FAM list of players, how many of them were in Super League? Its all bxxx sxxx. Yet the have to buy players from other teams to strengthen theirs. Why not develop the own products? Why must get players from outside? Skip the generation in his own team and wait for the result. Will he get it? The answer is DEFINITE ZERO.
He and the FAM must look into the realistic part of our game. In Malaysia, we dont have "football players" who have the ambition of improving and achieving. We only have "football workers" that train and play for the sake or earning their salary at the end of the month. It might sounds unfair to other players but reality is there. I give Selangor as an example. Last season they played without import players and majority of them were youngsters with the aim of exposing these young players to a high and competitive matches in the Super League. The ended up empty handed. It was a decision or policy made by those in the air-conditioned room. This season they made an about turn and recruited foreign players as well as established players to beef up their team. Why? Simply because the fans arent patient enough after a long disastrious wait. Time for result and only result.
FAM and EXCO members...look into it...

Anonymous said...

For your and KJ's information, some serious links and sources believe the match-fixing isn't linked to betting syndicates, but instead syndicates linked to other teams paying players to sell matches.
Come to think of it, who the hell would want to bet on this failed league?

KakiBola said...

wak arjun..
those people in the fam must have frequent meeting. everytime when something finished or about to start they will have meetings to make a decision. even for something like u said, to decide or how many teams get promoted and relegated, they cannot decide. why? because they have to wait until they know if "their teams" qualified or disqualified from certain competitions. like those days, if pahang were to be relegated, then no relegation. if without foreign players pahang could perform and produced results, then the competition rules said, NO FOREIGN PLAYER. all these are done merely on their respective teams achievements. this year, they need to wait and see if trengganu, pahang or upb my team stay in contention or at the bottom of the league before they can decide on teams to be relegated or promoted.
wak arjun...if they dont have meetings and change policies and rules and regulations of any competition, they are scared that people might have interpreted that they dont work. so to show people that they "really work hard" to improve malaysian football, they will have to sit in many meetings and decide and change many things... aiyoooo

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Itu macam ka kakibola? sigh.....

Ini macam kalu I guess it's only logical that we do not talk about football development at all in Maysia la. Waste of time. Its' all ONE MAJOR FARCE. Not until WE, the Fans, The Rakyat and the TAXPAYERS can start to see some +ve steps are in place, heading to the R-E-A-L development as utterd by the Deputy President, then we might as well quit this topic altogether.

If that's how the morons actually work, the Who's Who on Board influencing the teams demoted or otherwise, then I'd say RIP la to Maysian football.

And oh, MHF most celebrated (or highly-paid-but-no-result) coach cakap "final of Azlan Shah Cup" is within reach. Is this just talking c*ck or what? I mean, nak cover line ke?