Football

Footballers may end up as 'pisang goreng' sellers

KUALA LUMPUR: It's a shame and surely many players will be selling goreng pisang.

That's the concern of Perak head coach Datuk Lim Teong Kim on the scrapping of the second-tier Premier League.

While Teong Kim, a former Bayern Munich youth coach (2001-2011), gave the thumbs-up to the Malaysian Football League (MFL) on the M-League's reformatting this season, he said the cancellation of the Premier League would lead to many players being jobless.

Teong Kim said while the expansion of the Super League will see additional teams and tougher competitions, he is puzzled by the abolishment of the second division.

"The Super League is good but it's a shame there isn't a second division. This stunts the growth of national football because many talent need the time to grow and now, won't get a chance," said Teong Kim, who was the National Football Development Programme director from 2016-2018.

"These players will now play on the division below which is too low, unsuitable and this is not criticism, but a fact.

"It's a shame because surely many will (end up) selling goreng pisang."

Yesterday, Teong Kim was in Kuala Lumpur to attend a Federal Territories Minister's Cup pre-match press conference.

The former Kuala Lumpur star (1984-86) said it feels good to be back and up against his former team. Teong Kim's Perak will play Bojan Hodak's City Boys.

Teong Kim said if Perak lose to KL today, but play skilfully, he will not be angry.

"We want to entertain the fans. They come to the stadium to watch and sometimes if the style of play is nice but we lose... fans want to see an interesting match.

"We want the fans to be happy, so they will come back to help (cheer) us because football is entertaining. I want to win, but through good football and an honest way of working with players playing their hearts out, the fans will be satisfied," said Teong Kim who was appointed to lead Perak last September.

The Bos Gaurus look to Teong Kim to revitalise them following their demotion to the Premier League in 2021.

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