'Act now before it is too late'
Published on: Friday, March 03, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Former State coach Kelly Tham said time is running out for Sabah Rhinos and Sabah Football Association (Safa) need to do something drastic to the team before it becomes too late.Sabah is currently second from bottom in the Premier League with only one win after six matches and the team management is facing criticism from the fans through social media."Damage has obviously been done and action must be taken now before it becomes even worse.
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I do not understand why the management are still dragging their feet and there is still no sign that they are in a panic mode despite the very poor results this season."Given the present situation, the coach should be suspended temporally and a probe must be carried out to determine the cause of the problems and then try to turn the fortune around."He said the management should not practice favouritism just because they are dealing with foreign coaches."I was suspended by Safa after losing two straight games despite winning the FA Cup in the same season and why these foreign coaches are given special treatment by the management is beyond me.
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"I don't know what is in their head but I hope they realise that this team is not working at all so far and the sight of Sabah playing in the FAM Cup next season under the hot Sunday sun is fast looming if they are still in their dreamland and refuse to do anything positive now," he warned.On the loss against UiTM on Tuesday night, Kelly said it was a sad sight to watch the team struggle against another minor side in the league.
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"UiTM were no better than ATM. The loss was a clear indication that the present coaching staff just do not know how to handle the team."The players looked so tired as if they have just run a marathon and in actual fact they had more rest than their opponents who had to play four days earlier while Sabah was given extra days rest after the postponement of the MISC-MIFA match."I must add that the injury problems and players often suffered cramps during matches so early in the season is the result of poor pre-season preparation."All the players during my time can play two hours straight under the hot sun when the season started and they were also physically very strong to withstand the expected hard body contact by the opponents."This is what to expect from the players especially in the opening season but unfortunately I can't say the same about this present team as many of the players look completely off colour with less than 10 matches played."In fact, the result on Tuesday was kind to Sabah as it could have been even worse if UiTM had managed to convert their two or three one-on-one chances when they were 2-1 up."He also called on the coach to stop experimenting with the players."Some of the players were asked to play off positions at the start of the season and this may be one of the reasons which has contributed to the poor results and this must be stopped."The coaches must know that this is not an academy for kids but is a state team and they are dealing with adults who have played in their respectively positions for years and it cannot be changed overnight."Kelly also questioned the empty VIP seats at the Stadium on Tuesday."It is a shame that all the top guns were not there except for Vice President Joehari Ayub who was seen with Datuk James Wong and Datuk Hassan Sani."There were some 1,000 die hard Rhinos fans there that night and these people had paid their hard earned cash to give their support to the team despite the poor results."The absence of these other high profile office bearers has set a very bad example. How do you expect the fans to continue to support the team if they see the people they believe will guide the team are missing from the stands."I hope in future these people can show their faces even when the team are down and not there only when the team are doing well or when the President is expected to be present," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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