Vacancies....

This is shocking news for me! I honestly feel this is a huge gamble by the FAS. It's easy to understand this decision really. They were at the pinnacle of domestic football just one season ago, but this year Selangor fell to the bottom. So the FAS wants to take some drastic action. But this has never been done before. They could either strike gold or they could be worst off. The thing is, this is a league format that we're talking about. I dont think the FAS should risk hiring unknown players with little or no experience in the local league.

A sign of desperation? Or maybe a commercial gimmick? A copy from the My Team reality series perhaps, but doing this at the professional league level, for a start it is going to be difficult to convince the sponsors. I have no comments on the state of the local league but maybe, this new development could attract curious followers. If this doesn't work, I'm afraid that this is going to take football to a new low in this country. But with the current state of Malaysian football, I think it is a risk worth taking.

Sports
August 02, 2006 21:41 PM

S'gor Drops All Players, To Conduct Nationwide Scouting
SHAH ALAM, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The Football Association Selangor (FAS) will drop all its current players, including the imports, and replace them with local talents below 23 years of age for next season's Malaysian League. FAS president Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said: "We will conduct players' selection throughout Malaysia and if successful, we will see a new football perspective in the country."We will try the best, and I apologise to all old players, all of them will be dropped," the Selangor Menteri Besar told a press conference after chairing the state executive council meeting here Wednesday.

He said no imports would be absorbed into the new squad but probably, one or two experienced local players would be retained to guide the youngsters. In the previous season, Selangor won three titles -- the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Malaysia Cup. In the current season, they not only failed to defend the FA Cup and Malaysia Cup but also sank to the bottom of the Super League table.Selangor managed to remain in the Super League after a series of play-off matches following the Football Association of Malaysia's decision to increase the number of teams in the Super League from eight to 14.

Dr Khir said the selection of new players would be held anytime soon."We are scouting. So, those interested and have the ability and skills from this state or other states can contact us. We will conduct a special training session and see what they can do," he said.He said all new players would be placed in a hostel and be given special diet and comprehensive training to ensure they were constantly ready and focused to play.

"This is a big and drastic change to Selangor football but I will certainly make the shift to prove that local people too can play footbal like the Brazilians."I see that the football objective in the state is not achieved though we have import players."The objectives in taking foreign players are firstly to draw supporters and secondly to allow a change in the attitude of local players, and a transfer of skills from foreign players to the locals but these did not materialise," he said.Dr Khir said Selangor were not hoping to win any title the next season with the new players."It is just that we want to do something quite drastic because I am sure Malaysians too are capable. It is something new and I will try it," he said.-- BERNAMA