The JDT football team's official Facebook page has listed a slew of problems plaguing the national team and the management.
Its posting stated that the information was provided by sources within Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
Yesterday, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim claimed to be in possession of information related to FAM.
He said this included the media personnel that the FAM always used including former footballers in Malaysia, the amount of money allegedly taken by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) and given to the FAM as well as a "rubbish auditor's report" given to the crown prince by his "high-ranking friends in Kuala Lumpur".
"Maybe it's time for football supporters of this country to see the truth and judge for themselves," he had said.
In the latest posting on the JDT page, the problems concerning the national team were cited as:
- Lack of coaching quality
- Quality of coaches is bad
- Too much experimentation in the selection of players - lack of cohesion between players, coaches and the technical teams
- Local coaches (in reference to Ong Kim Swee) lacked international exposure/quality coaching
- Coaches have different ideas/strategies - no single philosophy
- Selection of players at the league level - interference by officials
- Young players don't have enough exposure
- Coaches at the youth level do not have the capabilities/qualities to develop players in a holistic way
- Schools were factories for producing players - no football fields and no dedicated teachers in schools - 80% of teachers are women
- Lack of grassroots programmes
- Match manipulation and match fixing problems not addressed - FAM does not take match fixing seriously as certain staff within FAM are friends with ex-national players who are involved with match fixing
- There should be a long term planning and not short term
- Local coaches have ego problem, poor coaching education
- Training camps for the national team is too long
As for the problems with the management, the posting mentioned the following:
- FAM is old-fashioned in football management; administration lacks quality staff
- FAM slow in development
- Coaches are not professional, do not follow a single philosophy
- Too much focus on regional AFF Suzuki/SEA Games competitions
- Poor crisis management - media response
- Unnecessary expenditure without analysing
- Salary of local coaches and national team coaches are too high
- Match fixing scandals never taken seriously
- Money in FMLLP not utilised correctly because interest not going to clubs participating but to the management
- No interest from FAM management to improve
Following the prince’s remarks, FAM yesterday denied Tunku Ismail’s allegations on the retirement of four national players.
The four JDT players – Safiq Rahim, Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak, Amirul Hadi Zainal and S Kunalan – announced their retirement from the national squad last week.
Tunku Ismail alleged that the players sustained injuries during training with the national squad and suffered from fatigue.
He also claimed that the national players' welfare is neglected, while FAM is monopolised by businessmen and tainted with graft.
