KUALA LUMPUR: Penang’s sad decline until they were relegated to the Premier League after only two season’s in the Super League is said to be caused by the management because they are ‘too smart’.
Penang’s former player and coach, Datuk Shukor Salleh said such a scenario has happened because the team is managed by those who do not know much about football but act as if they know more compared to experts.
“I am actually fed up of commenting about Penang because I am just so disappointed. As one who is born and bred in the state who ended up playing and coaching the team, I am also ashamed of what has happened.
“The team should not have been relegated to the Premier League because financially they are fully supported by the state government. I have been made to understand that the team are given a grant of RM34.5 million.
“With a grant as much as that, they should be able to get good players to bolster the team. But what has happened is they wasted money engaging foreign players who were lacking in quality.
“What made things worse is they also hired a lousy coach in Ashley Westwood. When Zainal (Abidin Hassan) took over, by that time it was already too late.
“All this has happened because the FA of Penang (FAP) do not have a background in football but act smarter than the experts,” said the national footballing legend.
Apart from engaging Westwood’s services, the Panthers also brought on board foreign players in the form of Reinaldo Lobo (Brazil), Diogo Ferreira (Australia), Andy Russell (Hong Kong) and Nigel Dabingyaba (Papua New Guinea).
Lobo, Ferreira and Russell were then replaced by Brandon McDonald, Mark Hartmann and Sanna Nyassi during the transfer window in the middle of the season.
However the move failed to change Penang’s fortunes who finished the season bottom of the Super League table with only 12 points from 22 matches which resulted in them being relegated to the Premier League.
Shukor also chided the FAP’s lackadaisical attitude in forming a team for the coming new season.
It shows as they still have not appointed a new president after Zairil Khir Johari resigned on October 9.
“How are they going to move forward if they don’t even have a president? While other teams are busy making preparations for next season, Penang are still in ‘slumber’ as though nothing is happening nor going on.
“If this is the case, it is not impossible for them to drop down even further to the FAM Cup like before,” said Shukor referring to the team’s past history of playing in the third tier in 2012 and 2013.
Translated from Berita Harian