Good salaries could improve team, but it must be reasonable
Published on: Friday, April 17, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Football Association (FA) cannot afford to pay its local players more than RM50,000 a month.Former football administrator Datuk Harry Baking, who served Sabah FA for 15 years, said while big salaries could perhaps improve teams, there had to be limits to curb the practice from becoming extravagant."I believe good salaries could improve teams, but it has to be reasonable, certainly not over RM50,000," he said.
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"The Sabah team does not have the luxury of a strong fan base for now to afford 'highly paid' local players."Certainly not at the level where the team is at now, although I must say, it has shown some bright sparks lately," he said.Sabah is in the lower-tiered Premier League this season and is third of 11 teams after six matches.Harry was the Executive Secretary of Sabah FA when the team was known as the Rhinos.
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During his tenure, the team won the FA Cup in 1995 and the coveted Premier League champion's title in 1996.However, in the last 10 years, the Sabah team has seen a decline in standard and has been unable to secure promotion to the top-tier Malaysian Super League.
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While the achievements of the Sabah reserves in winning the Reserve League in 1999 raised hopes, the players did not manage to emulate the success at the next level.Sources said one of their highest-paid local footballers in recent years was Rozaimi Abdul Rahman.The 23-year-old national player from Membakut was believed to have been earning about RM40,000 two years ago.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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