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A few days had gone by since the last press conference where we introduced Idros to the assembled press. Since then he has been training hard with the rest of the squad and I could see that he was fighting for a starting position in the team. I had to leaving the training to my brand new back room staff and as far as I could see, everything was being handled well. I headed to the board room from the pitch for a meeting with the chairman and the other directors. We talked about the recent S$230k loss that was incurred by the club but I assured the board that once the season started, we would be making profits. Then we went on to the matter of getting a feeder club. The directors said that they could give me 3 choices of clubs for my recommendation. I looked through all three clubs and I recommended Johor Linkedua. The club was in Johor, which was really close to Singapore and we only had to pay them an annual fee of about S$5K. The directors agreed and they left to set up the deal.

I, on the other hand, had to go to the airport to meet up with the representative from the Korean Association of Singapore and welcome our newest player. My scouts report said that he spoke good English so I knew language wouldn’t be a problem. The lady from the association was already there and we went to the arrival hall to wait. She was holding a placard with the guys name on it so that he would know that it was us who came to pick him and his dad up. After about 30 min, they came to the meeting area and I welcomed them to Singapore. The father didn’t speak real great English though so the lady had to translate for me. I took them on a tour of the stadium, the training area and introduced him to the reserve squad where he would be playing for now while I and my assistant assess how he fits into the first team. After the tour, the lady took them to meet the boy’s host family in Singapore. Everything was going great so far. I went back to overseeing training of the first team. We had to be ready to leave for Malaysia in two days.

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“Alright everybody ready? Good. Now get on the bus and get a seat so that we can be on our way.” I told the players as they were getting onto the bus to the airport where we would take a short plane ride to Kuala Lumpur to face FELDA United first, from there we would take another flight to Kuantan (Pahang) to face Shahza Muda, then on to Kota Bharu (Kelantan) to face Kelantan FC and finally to Cheras (Kuala Lumpur) to face Kuala Lumpur FC. “You got to like those discounted group rates” I tokd myself. On the bus ride I asked my assistant O’Connell if he had any problems with Surachai coming back next week as a second assistant manager. He said that he had some concerns about it but overall he felt that it would be a good choice. Once we reached the airport, we went through the process of getting our passports stamped and going though customs which was a bit of a hassle but we did get it done. We walked to the gate and eventually we were told to board the plane.

“Ok guys, this is my first friendly managing a football team so this I what I need you guys to do………” I told the players in the “away” team dressing room at the Petronas Stadium. This was the friendly between between us and FELDA United. We had arrived the day before and trained at the stadium to get used to it that evening. I told the players I wanted to go for a 4-4-2 formation and that we would be attacking from the start as much as possible. I told them that we had been training with this formation for weeks now and we should be able to at least get away with a decent result. I gave the players some individual instructions and the next thing I knew, I was sitting at the dugout and the players were lining up on the field. I had a good feeling about this. I was disappointed at the turnout though, there were only 500 people in the whole stadium. Anyway, the referee started the match and we were off. The players for the most part were playing well and following my instructions. We were attacking more but seemed to lose possession very easily and the attackers were shooing in the general direction of the goal but they kept on missing. IN the mean time, FELDA changed their tactics to draw us in and then counter attack and suddenly they had more possession than us. Salleh and Subramani were having problems trying to sop their players but thanks to Lewis, the score was still 0-0 at half time. At the break I told them that they were doing a good job so far, we just needed to keep possession of the ball and keep hounding them. Soon the second half started and it seemed what I had told the players had been for nothing. We still kept losing possession and FELDA would try to punish us. This kept on going for a few more minutes before Salleh stole the ball and passed it to Bel. He ran like crazy along the left flank and made a great pass where he the ball threaded to Indra Sahdan. Sahdan pulled his foot back and kicked the ball. Next thing I knew, the players were celebrating on the pitch. The ball hit the goalkeepers finger tips and was deflected into the left corner of the net. I cheered the players on and we managed to hold. At the final whistle we had won 1-0. I told O’Connell that it was a good feeling to win. “Um Boss, you forgot to make substitutions, now all the players are tired and some of them don’t look too happy”. I was so excited about the game that I really had forgotten to make any substitutions. When we went to the dressing room the most of the players were happy with the win, others were just too tired to even get angry. I told them that I was sorry for my mistake but to make it up to them, I’ll treat the team to a seafood dinner. The next day we did some training in the morning until noon. The rest of the day the players were out shopping for their wives and girlfriends. My parents were in Kuala Lumpur so I called and said I would visit them during after our final game in Malaysia. They had read the New Straits Times which reported that I was pretty much the youngest football manager in Singapore and it also ad a match report of the previous game with FELDA. They said that they were proud but worried since they thought that if results went badly then I would be fired. I told them not to worry.

The next two days were hectic and passed very quickly I made some changes to the team and put in Idros for the right midfield position against Shahzan Muda. This game was different than the first one and we had most possession and more chances at goal but the “inaccurate shot demon” always turned up to foil Sahdan and Ludovick. Once again at half time we were 0-0. At the break I informed the players that all of them except for Ludovick, Nasir and Salle would be substituted. Lucky for us, after the break we just decided to go all out and by the 85th minute we were 2-1 up, our two goals coming from Sahdan and Nasir. At that time I was thinking that we’ll have a second win. “Not bad,” I thought. Next thing I know, one of the Muda strikers shoots the ball towards goal and Salleh blocks it with his leg. Even before I could shout “Good Job!!!” the ball just ricocheted of his leg and went past Lewis and that’s the score the game ended at; 2-2. Salleh was devastated but I told him that he shouldn’t worry as it was just an unlucky break. I told him tat I had talked this over with Subramani and we both agreed that from now on he would be captaining the first team. He was very thankful and promised me that he would repay my faith in him by performing well at every game. Unfortunately he bruised his head during training in preparation for our next friendly but I was glad to know he would be out for two weeks at least. In the meantime he could do some light physical activity but no headers for awhile. The next game against Kelantan FC made it 2 wins and 1 draw thanks to a Sahdan penalty and a goal from open play by Shi Jiayi to make the score 2-1.

We went into the final friendly full of confidence knowing that we could kick Kuala Lumpur FC’s behind. Salleh did not start for this game but he was in the stands watching the game. I managed to get tickets for my parents and for Vivian to come watch the game in seats close to the half way line. The game started off very well and we had 3 shots in the opening 3 minutes of the game. Each shot getting closer and closer to a goal. Just then, one of the KLFC striker broke my defensive wall and shot straight into the net making it 1-0 for them. I wasn’t too worried as we got behind in the Kelantan FC games and ended up winning the game. After 25 minutes of play, I found this was nothing like the Kelantan game. KLFC was shooting balls at our goal like crazy and it was like the defense just crumbled away. Then BANG, they scored another goal to make it 2-0 in the 30th minute. It remained at that score until half time. In the dressing room I asked the defenders what happened. They played so well the past few games and in this one they just disappeared after the first goal. I told them that they did try hard but I had to change the whole defensive lineup for the second half as well as the striking pair upfront. They understood my reasoning and then we began the second half. I thought we were doing well until KLFC made in 3-0. And that was it, the game finished at 3-0. It could as easily have been 4-0 but the player miss-hit the ball and it flew out onto the running track. The players were upset but I just told them that this was just a friendly and they did pretty well so far. The real test would be in 20 days once the season officially starts. After a day of relaxation, the players and staff proceeded to head back to Singapore.

In the meantime I met up with my parents and talked to them about everything that happened. I haven’t seen them since I graduated in 2004. We talked for a while and then they had to go as my dad was teaching a class in the university the next day. Next I met up with Vivian and I took her to a nice restaurant for dinner and we just caught up on things that happened since graduation in 2004. She said she had a good job with an insurance company and that she was happy there. I told her that I was glad to be in Singapore again and that now she should come visit me soon since I visited her in Kuala Lumpur. She said that she can only come next month since she has some free time then but in the meantime she would call me every week. After the meal I told her I had to go since I was scheduled on the late night flight back to Singapore. I took her home in a cab and she hugged me and told me that I did something real good in getting this job. I thanked her, waited for her to get into her parents house then took the cab to the airport On the plane I reflected on the team’s performance and even tough I told them it was a good job, it wasn’t. I thought that maybe 4-4-2 wasn’t such a good idea for the players. I thought of other formations and then everything finally clicked. As the plane was heading for final approach into Singapore, I thought to myself “Ummmmm… How about 4-3-1-2?? That should work.”

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“Hey wake up lah!! Its 8am already. How much longer are you going to sleep???” I woke up all groggy to the sound of Irene’s voice ringing in my head. I hadn’t slept much, only about 3 hours. I was staying up most of the night trying to perfect the tactic and formation the team would be using for the season. The friendlies in Malaysia had given me an idea of who I wanted for my newest first team. I just had to see them in training before I finalized my decision.

I am trying to keep my eyes open as I read the newspaper in my office. The sports section has interviews with four of the 12 S-League managers. One of the questions was about how the “newest kid on the block” would fare this season. To put it simply, all of them felt sorry for HUFC. “Oh well, who cares what they think?!?!” I thought. I put the paper down and went down to see the players train. On the way I bumped into Surachai who had come back the same time I did from Malaysia. He said he was had just finished apologizing to the players for leaving so abruptly but he was glad that he was the co-assistant manager. I put Surachai in charge of the reserve squad but I still wanted him around the first team players since he knew most of them and was generally well liked. He and O’Connell got along well so it wasn’t too awkward when I asked both of them their opinions of the new first team roster. The actual roster stayed the same for the defence with Lewis in goal. I had replaced Sulaiman with Idros as the attacking midfielder and I put Jung Sun at right midfield in place of Qiu Li. I told Jung Sun that this was his chance to prove himself. Qiu Li wasn’t too upset and I told him that I needed to rest him since he was still pretty tired.

Back in my office, I was looking at the fisture list. “Umm… seems like an interesting season.” Our first game was the Asian Confederation cup match against Happy Valley from Hong Kong. The Asian Confederation Cup is pretty much Asia’s version of the UEFA Cup. Then our first S-League game will be against Young Lions and we were also in the Singapore Cup Preliminary round, with our first game against Geylang United. We were entered into 3 competitions but the one we had to clinch first was the league title. Everything else was secondary. The club would start its league bid in a week’s time, against Happy Valley in Hong Kong. I just couldn’t wait.

felidae

Sorry everyone but my game crashed last night and I had a start a new one. I still signed on Idros and Jung Sun-Bi but the only changes I will be making is to the fixture list. Will upsate sooon. Cheers.

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“Hi Mahmood, could you please come to my office now. We have a little problem.” That was Mr. Koh’s message on my answering machine. I wondered what was going on as he sounded really ****ed off. “Ok, whatever it was it wasn’t me. I swear” I told Mr. Koh as I entered his office. He said that someone at FAS screwed up and they had sent over the wrong fixture list for Home United. I told him that it was impossible and that I had checked the first fax of the original fixture list he had sent me some time ago. “Did you check all 3 pages?” he asked me. “There were 3 pages?” I said. Apparently I had only looked at the first page and had not even looked at the other 2 pages. I asked him how he knew that the fixture list was the wrong one. “Well unless we are playing against ourselves in the middle of the season, I’d say that this was the wrong one!!” he said. I felt like an idiot. He said that the list was originally for Balestier Khalsa and he had already phoned the FAS about the mix up. He told me that they would send the new fixture list later on in the afternoon. I then went to the training ground and told O’Connell about what happened. He said that the player were ready to play against any opponent. “Good, now we just have to wait” I told him.

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“WHAT?!?!?!??!?!?! You are KIDDING me right?!?!?!?!?!” I had to react when Mr. Koh said that the FAS kept our original schedule and just changed some games around. My scout had told me that Happy Valley would not be an easy team to beat but we had already cancelled our plane tickets to Hong Kong and the game was in a week. “Actually I just post poned the flight until we knew what our new schedule was” he said. I breathed a sigh of relief and went out to talk to my assistant again. Told him that the trip to play in Hong Kong was a go. “Ah boss, we have a problem. Lewis is injured. He tried to go for a ball but slipped on a banana skin.” I just looked at him and said “HUH????” He then repeated himself about Lewis’ injury and said that he would be out for at least 2 weeks. So he would miss our matches against Happy Valley and Young Lions. “Damn it!!!”

ACC Games.

The first stop for our Asian Confederation Cup (ACC) was in Hong Kong against Happy Valley. I knew we had to start off the game brightly. The action was mostly on their side of the pitch and in midfield. “Get back, get back,” I shouted to my defense. They were actually at the edge of the center circle and were hurrying to get back when they saw Icaro, a striker from Happy Valley, had lobbed a ball over them into the completely open space between them and the goal to Lee Chi Ming who then ran with the ball to the edge of the penalty box and gave a right footed shot into the right side of the net. Our replacement keeper, Fatah Hassan, had absolutely no chance. So in the 8th minute we were down 1-0 and it remained that way until half-time. After the team talk, the players knew they had to get their act together. I told the defense players that I wanted them to stay back at all costs no matter what. I told the attackers that they were doing a good job. We had 15 shots on goal and I told them we had to make at least one goal. At the second half the team actually did attempt more shots and until the 80th minute we had 20 shots at goal but we were misfiring like crazy. I took off Sufian Anuar, a reserve player I had promoted to the first team, and Sahdan out of the game and replaced them with Jiayi and another first teamer, Ram Shanker. The fresh legs helped a lot and we kept on getting closer and closer to that goal. The clock was ticking down and next thing I know Shanker mispassed the ball into open space and then I see Nabeel Yusoff, one of the central defenders run up to the ball. “Oh crap!!!!!” I thought to myself as he approached the penalty area and saw 2 Valley defenders run towards him. Before they could reach him, he shot the ball wildly and, luckily, it hit the cross bar and had JUST gone over the goal line. The players were celebrating the 88th minute equalizer but after the whistle we started to get complacent and almost conceded 2 goals. There was a sigh of relief in the dugout, we had survived on the night but there were other games that were going to be even more difficult than this one. Now we had to look forward to my first league game against Young Lions. It was going to be one hell of a week.

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S-League


“BOOOO!!!!!! BOOOOO!!!!!!” the spectators shouted at my team who I was now convinced where total no-hopers. We had done so well against Happy Valley but against Young Lions we just gave in to their attack. Our defense was non-existent and the attacker was even worse. We had only 3 shots on goal compared to their 10. In the end we ended up losing the game 6-0. A lot f the players never even performed and I let the team know that they had to improve for the next game against Niigata Unicorn (Singapore). A few days later, I had received some offers for players which I was only too glad to accept. I told Mamadou, Junior, Bel and Egmar that they were to be sold off. I knew it was a risk selling the big players but they never even gave their all in the game against the Young Lion’s. Bel told me that I was just selling them off because I was angry and that I haven’t given them enough time to settle on the pitch playing for a new manager. But I told them that they had enough friendlies to show me what they could do and their performance in the Young Lions game was unforgivable. They were really ****ed off. I told them that they were to clean out their lockers because as of now they were no longer wanted at the club. Mamadou and Bel accepted a transfer to Tampines and Junior went on to SAFFC. Egmar on the other hand decided that it was probably time for him to retire.

“What the hell did you do?” the chairman was shouting at me. He was also mad that I sold off some of the big name players. I told him that I didn’t feel they were giving it their all and I suggested some players that we should buy to cover their positions. “Who are these guys?” he asked; I could still hear the anger in his voice. I showed him some scout reports of Goh Swee Swee, Fo’de’ Diakite and Mohamed Kone’. I told him that they were good players that would fit in with the team. He said that he didn’t like it but he would give me a chance to prove that they were as good as the ones that were transferred out. The transfers were made really quickly and next thing I knew, 2 days later they were training with the rest of the boys. I told them that they would be starting for the next game in two days and they had to prove to me that they should be in the first eleven.

It was time for the match against Niigata Unicorn (Singapore). The new transfers were in the team with a few changes. I pulled Fadly out of the DL position and put him on the bench so that Diakite could show me what he has. I gave Alias a rest, replacing him with Swee Swee and I put Kone’ in the central midfield (CM) spot. It was an instant hit compared to the Young Lions game. Although we still did not have that many shots on goal, we had more of possession of the ball. Eventually Kone’ passed the ball on to Sulaiman who passed it to Shi Jiayi. He took the ball, centered it and thumped it right into the roof of the net. And Bishan Stadium was suddenly alive. 2 more goals in the 44th and 50th minutes by Ludovick sealed the game for Home United. Everyone was happy including the chairman. I was much happier than him honestly, it was a risk selling those guys so close to this game but it was worth it. Now we had to get ready for the coming of Sengkang.

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Singapore Cup (S-Cup)

A serious bout of the flu was going around Bishan Stadium and many players and staff were sneezing and coughing away. It was two day until the Singapore Cup preliminary match against Geylang United and I already had about half of my first team out with the flu, things could not get any worse than this. I had to call up 5 reserve team players to start training with the first team so that the flu victims could be covered. Some of the reserve players were actually good during training. I was just hoping that playing against a big team like Geylang United wouldn’t be too much for them.

It was the day of the game and I was glad to know that about 7290 people were in the stands for this Singapore Cup preliminary round. That was the most number of people I have ever seen in Bishan Stadium. Before the players went out on the pitch, I just told them to go enjoy themselves and play some good football for our fans. We got the first shot right from the first whistle. Annuar saw that the Geylang goalkeeper was off his line and he made an audacious shot almost from the half way line. His Beckham-like shot had no real power and the goalkeeper captured the ball comfortably. Then after a lot of passing the ball around, we scored in the 3rd minute through Ludovick. The Geylang manager was shouting at the fourth official saying that one of the HUFC players was offside but he was told to just sit down. We control of most of the match and gave Geylang absolutely no chance. In the 6th minute we scored again through Qiu Li making it 2-0 to HUFC. The fans were ecstatic, and didn’t disappoint them two more goals in the 17th and 45th minutes virtually ended the tie. In the second half, it was Geylang who came forward more but even though they had some superb shots on goal, they were never really going inside our net. And that was it, final score 4-0 to HUFC and Geylang were eliminated from the Singapore Cup. It was a good feeling to win my first S-Cup match and I wanted this winning mentality to go on into our League and our Confederations Cup games.

With the win against Geylang United a month earlier, we were full of confidence for the coming of Niigata Unicorn (Singapore) for the S-Cup Quarter Final 1st leg match. I had the full team available for this game but I decided to keep the same squad as the Geylang United game but I had most of the big guns that didn’t play because of the flu on the bench. The referee blew his whistle and the game was on. Niigata had some of the early chances, keeping us on the back foot for most of the first quarter. However, we did manage a few runs and shots on goal in this time until Ludovick got tackled inside the Niigata penalty area resulting in a kick from the spot. The Niigata goalie had no chance and thanks to the penalty we were leading 1-0. The Japanese team didn’t give up though and continued to bombard us with shots on goal and I could see that some of the reserve players started to make stupid decisions about passing the ball. In the 39th minute I took out 2 of the reserve players and put in 2 of the more experienced players on the field. Then the game started to get interesting. Where Niigata had been surging forward at all times, we just soaked up the pressure and then continued to hit them on the counter attack. We kept on playing like this until Anuar scored a screamer of a goal in the 80th minute, making the score 2-0. We were coasting now and passing the ball amongst ourselves. I told the players just to waste time and keep possession until the final whistle. Niigata were desperate for at least one away goal to give them a chance at the second leg which would be at Jurong East Stadium. In the dying minutes they surged forward and tried to break our possession on the ball. They succeeded. Next thing I knew, our defenders were scrambling to stop the fast Hideya Tanaka from making a shot from our penalty box. The ball went into the net from close range in the 90th minute and they had a lifeline now going into the second leg. After the game, I told the players they played very well, despite the late goal, and that I wanted them to keep up this level of performance for the away leg in 2 weeks.

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This was it. The day of the 2nd leg against Niigata Unicorn (Singapore) for the Singapore Cup. We had come to Jurong East Stadium with a slender 2-1 lead from the 1st legs. I had a full squad to choose from with the only injury being Jung-Sun who had to have a hernia operation few days before this game. As the game started, the team has done the same thing they have done since the beginning of this campaign. They immediately started attacking the opposition. Niigata was more cautious this time although they were playing at home and they were just soaking up the pressure from our attacks. Then it happened, they countered brilliantly in the 6th minute with Hiroyuke Abe scoring for the Japanese with a superb goal. The biggest problem that we had was that everyone wanted to have a go at the opposition goal, even our defenders. That’s how we lost this goal; the defense had no chance against Abe’s goal. I didn’t need to tell the players anything, they knew exactly what they had to do. Alias, the captain told the defenders to stay back and let the midfield and attackers take care of things. And then, in the 17th and 41st minutes, Qiu Li made some great shots that ended up in the back of the net and we were leading the tie once again with Anuar adding a third goal for us in the 45th minute. The second half had restarted and we were full of confidence. I actually think we were too confident and we had every right to be since Sahdan shot our 4th goal in the 54th minute. From then on we stated to make many stupid mistakes defensively. Our first mistake gifted Yoshizawa a goal in the 64th minute and from then on Niigata were coming at us by producing wave after wave of attacks. This tactic paid off in the end with Shida scoring Niigata’s 3rd goal. We were getting worried now and I was shouting at the players that we needed just one more goal to wrap things up. Thank goodness for wishful thinking; it was Sahdan again who was the hero on the night with a screamer from outside the penalty area that ended up in the back of the net in the 89th minute. The score should have stayed that way. Niigata made few desperate pushes towards goal and their resilience ended with a goal in the 90th minute thanks to Yoshizawa again. But that was all that Niigata could muster and the most exciting game I have ever seen so far ended. The final score was 5-4 to HUFC with us going through to the semi-finals thanks to a aggregate score of 7-5. We were excited and confident to progress to the finals.

Our semi-final game was going to be against Woodlands with the 1st leg away at Woodlands Stadium. In the dressing room before the game, I told the players that we had to make a great impression here and I wanted us to score the first goal. I did not want to chase the game or go for a draw. “I want a win. Let’s show these guys our intention to push them aside to get to the final” I told the players. Ince the game started, I think the players forgot everything I had told them. We got creamed in the first half with goals from Agu Casmir, Sazali Salleh and Itimi Dickson all scoring nice goals. It was like the defense never existed. I made some substitution in the second half but we could not manage a fight back. Then in the 83rd minute, Diakite was tripped by Salleh and we had won a penalty. He kicked the back into the goal from the spot but that was it. The first leg ended with a horrible loss to our closest rival in the league with a score of 4-1 to Woodlands.

“Ok, we are playing at home now. Lets forget what happened three weeks ago and we’ll show them why we should not be seen as pushovers. I want us to go out and play some great foot ball.” The players were refreshed this time and I could see that they wanted revenge for the 4-1 humiliation that happened in the 1st leg 3 weeks ago. When the whistle blew to start the game we pushed back at Woodlands. This time they were making the mistake, and led Sahdan to score a tap-in in the 23rd minute. We had more chances on goal but the attackers were just shooting blanks. The second half saw Sahdan come off for Anuar. Sahdan had felt tightness in his leg muscles so we just took him off. Once he came on, Anuar had a great chance to make it 2-0 but he kicked the ball too hard and it fell onto the running track. The score could have been 7-0 if only we could put n all the missed chances. But that was not to be, in the 75th minute Ludovick scored to make it 2-0 for us on the night but that was all we could manage. The boys had played their hearts out but all we could manage was a 2-0 win but we lost 4-3 on aggregate. “What a way to go” I told O’Connell. The media had said that we had played a great game but we had to improve on our scoring rate. I agreed, I told the players that the next time we were in the S-Cup, I wanted to win it. I told them we still had the ACC and the league to fight for and that I expected them to give their best for those games.

felidae

Sorry about the lack of update. I have my last exam today and after that I will try and post an update ASAP. Thanks to everyone who has been reading this story.