9 candidates that Football Association of Singapore should consider as the next Lions XII coach

Hire local or foreigner? Who cares as long as we win, right?

Martino Tan| October 07, 11:13 AM

V. Sundramoorthy has quit as LionsXII coach after two seasons in charge of the Malaysian Super League (MSL) team.

Reports from Malaysia had linked the 48-year old with a move to Malaysia Premier League side Negeri Sembilan, which finished last in the 2013 season.

Although rumours linking Sundram to Negeri Sembilan had been ongoing for the past few weeks, Sundram's contract negotiations with Football Association of Singapore (FAS) were not settled since August.

Since FAS is quite tardy in their coach search (it took FAS five months to appoint Singapore's new national head coach), let's help FAS along with our own shortlist of 9 candidates.

 

1. Fandi Ahmad

Fandi Ahmad

Source

Fandi Ahmad, one of Singapore's best footballers, recently resigned as the manager of Johor Darul Takzim.

Fandi is now working at his new academy - the F-17 Fandi Ahmad’s Academy of Football Excellence - and aims to discover and develop the next footballing star of Southeast Asia. He mentioned to the media that he "had some offers to coach Malaysia Super League teams," but "would like to stay in Singapore".

Why not achieve both aims at the same time by becoming the Lions XII coach?

Possibility: 8/10.

Team Success: 7/10. His team didn't do well and finished lower than Sundram's team, even with stars like Daniel Güiza and Simone Del Nero.

 

2. Radojko Avramović

Raddy

Source

As one of Singapore's most successful football manager, 63-year-old "Raddy" resigned last year after winning the Suzuki Cup title for the third time.

Possibility: 7/10. Ivan, his only son, works for a local bank here.

Team Success: 8/10. He is a familiar face in the local football scene, having worked with FAS for nine years. He will be able to get the best out of the Lions.

 

3. Aide Iskandar

Aide-Iskandar

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Aide Iskandar was the captain of Singapore from 2003 to 2007. The current coach of Courts Young Lions was also an assistant coach to Raddy Avramović.

Possibility: 9/10.

Team Success: 4/10. His current team Courts Young Lions is bottom of S.League with 9 points, 15 points fewer than the 2nd last team.

 

4. Abbas Saad

AbbasSaad

Source

The former Australian national football player was one of the best foreign footballers to grace the Lions' colours. He was a key member of teams which won the League and Malaysia Cup double with both Johor in 1991 and Singapore in 1994.

45-year old Saad is a commentator on Astro SuperSport channel's FourFourTwo, a twice-weekly football TV programme and currently resides in Kuala Lumpur.

Possibility: 5/10. Following his conviction for match-fixing in Singapore, Saad received a lifetime ban from the FAS. The ban was lifted in 2009.  

Team Success: 6/10. Saad had coaching experiences at Penrith Nepean United and was also the Technical Youth Director of Sydney Olympic FC.

 

5. Dan Tan

Dan Tan

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Businessman Dan Tan was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau(CPIB) in September this year for match-fixing. He was previously jailed for illegal bookmaking in the 1990s.

Possibility: 0/10. The alleged match-fixing ringleader was believed to be held on detention order.

Team Success: 10/10. Lions XII will win. Every single game.

 

6. Quah Kim Song

Sylvia Lim_Quah Kim Song

 Source

Before his life as "Mrs Sylvia Lim", 61-year old Quah was a football legend in the 1970s.

Possibility: 6/10.

Team Success: 8/10. Lucky Song had already scored once this year. We need more luck with Lions XII.

 

7. Alex Ferguson

Alex_Ferguson

Source: Wikipedia

Arguably the greatest ever football manager, Sir Alex led Manchester United to its most successful periods over the past 23 years.

Possibility: 5/10.  He is retired now and he is highly popular in Singapore. There was a famous saying that "United probably have more followers in Singapore than Manchester".

Team Success: 9/10. He is Sir Alex.

 

8. Robbie Fowler

Robbie_Fowler

Source: Wikipedia

One of Liverpool's best strikers, Fowler is now coaching Liverpool's Under-21 and Under-18 squads.

Why coach the kids when you can manage an international team?

Possibility: 4/10.  We probably can't hire more foreign talent now.

Team Success: 3/10. He has little coaching experience, including a stint at Muangthong United (What? It's a Thailand Premier League side).

 

9. Neil Humphreys

Neil Humphreys

Source: Neil Humphreys Facebook

A football columnist from The New Paper, Neil has written a number of best-selling humorous books about Singapore - Notes From an Even Smaller Island (2001), Scribbles from the Same Island (2003), Final Notes from a Great Island (2006) and Return to a Sexy Island (2012).

Possibility: 5/10.  He is already in Singapore. So Singapore can just offer him a job and permanent residency.

Team Success: 4/10. He writes about football, so he thinks he must know a bit about football. He also knows a bit about Singapore - he stayed here for a few years and even wrote a book about match-fixing.

 

Featured Photo from Lions XII Facebook.

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