Sport

FAS, time to wake up your bloody ideas! For an association crying out for someone to bring back the fans to watch and reconnect with the national team, now that they know all along that man has always been Singapore's favourite football son, they still give him a title as Interim Coach.

Most would say that the name Interim Coach does not mean anything, as the Singapore Lions players still respect and give their full backing to Coach Fandi Ahmad, but please! Interim coach in football denotes a seat warmer, someone who will be there until someone else deemed better by the FAS (usually a foreign coach) is appointed permanently. But, in Fandi Ahmad, the FAS have stumbled upon a bloody good coach, who his players will give everything for, and the fans have the utmost respect and love for. This is the man who already brings so much joy to Singapore football in the last three months as a football coach, compared to the more than three years of Bernd Stange and Sundram led teams of the national team.

Here is a man that is bringing the fans back to the stadium, playing some good football. Singapore might not make it past the group stages in the AFF Suzuki Cup, but Fandi has done more to reignite passion for the national team in his short spell as Interim Coach. Come one FAS, remove that Interim role from Fandi's position already!

Strange things have happened in Singapore football over the pass week. First, the National Stadium was filled with more than 30,000 fans watching the Singapore Indonesia match last Friday. Most of the fans were in the stadium supporting the Lions, not some foreign European team in a useless friendly match.

Then after victory was secured against Indonesia, the Lions traveled to Philippines. And 20 fans made their way to Bacolod, to watch the match live at the stadium. Bacolod? Yes, a town in the Philippines so obscured, there is nothing to do there except watch the football on show last night. But what was more surprising was that fans actually flocked to Our Tampines Hub and Admiralty Community Sports Club to catch the live screening of the match there. In fact, there were so many people that the unexpected huge numbers ensured that it was standing room only at the two live screening venues.

Was it the Fandi Ahmad factor that is bringing fans back to the Lions? Or the fact that the Lions are now playing a more attacking style of football? They lost last night, so the acid test will come on 21 November, when they take on Timor Leste at the National Stadium. Maybe then we will see if the fans are back for good.

Finally, the Singapore Lions managed to put a smile back on the faces of the fans, who despite all the nonsense football they have dished over the years, still turned up in their thousands to support the local boys.

The crowd of just over 30,000 witnessed something that Singapore had not done for 4 years, actually winning an official game of football in the Asian arena. Team captain Hariss Harun scored in the 37th minute of the game against Indonesia to send the thousands who flocked to the new Stadium something to cheer about. That Singapore managed to see out the game and play well was an added bonus for the fans, who have been used to watch boring defensive football with long, aimless balls pumped upfield for players to chase.

Fandi Ahmad have instilled an attacking mentality in this team. Though it is still early days yet, and Singapore will still face the two biggest teams in this group away from home, it was a good sign. At least, the relationship between the team and the fans are on the road to recovery.

Home United South Korean born playmaker, Song Ui-Young, has rejected a lucrative contract worth more than US$20,000 a month from Indonesian club, Persija Jakarta, to stay in the Singapore Premier League with Home United.

The 24 year old had recently signed on for two more years with Home United, meaning he will represent them until the 2020 season. He has been paying for them since 2012, but rose to prominence this past year where he led Home’s charge on all fronts with 20 goals and five assists in 27 matches. His reason for rejecting the contract offer from the Indonesian club was that he hopes to represent Singapore one day, having fulfilled the seven year residency criteria here. 

Song has been mooted for the naturalised player scheme for the Singapore national team, but he had his Singapore citizenship application turned down in October this year. He will be re-applying again with the help of the Football Association of Singapore. Seems like he really has his mind set on representing Singapore. 

Hougang United have just made local football history recently, when they spent $50,000 for the transfer of sometimes Singapore International striker Fazrul Nawaz to their club from Tampines Rovers. 

While the fee of $50,000 seems like peanuts in the world of professional football, in Singapore, it is virtually unheard of for players to move between clubs for a fee. To put it in context, Singapore's previous record high for transfers were held by Singapore legends Nazri Nasir, who cost $36,000 when he moved from Sembawang Rangers to SAF FC, and V Sundramoothy, who cost $20,000 when he moved from Woodlands Wellington to Jurong FC.

And with the state of football on Singapore now in such a sad state, where even top teams like the Warriors were not able to pay their staff salaries on time this past year, questions need to be asked whether transfer fees are viable in a league that is all but facing a slow and painful death.

You know the local football scene is in a sad state of affairs when your invited team who has been playing in the S League since 2009, has instead approached the Thai FA and indicated their interest to play in the Thai League instead.

The Thai league is currently thriving, with many indicating that this could be the best league in the South East Asia region. The fact that the league is more competitive and have two tiers where promotion and relegation brings much excitement to fans is not lost to the football teams in this region. Thus, the desire of the Brunei team to test themselves under a much higher standard.

To add insult to injury, while the Thai league have confirmed that Brunei DPMM have indicated their interest to play in the league in 2019, Singapore's FA claimed they have not heard of any teams pulling out of their league. Like a jilted lover finding our about being dumped via other people.