In a report in Malaysiakini, Sathianathan said he would accept the challenge by Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim to a debate on the performance of the national football team.

“It’s a good suggestion. I will accept (the challenge) if that is the best way to restore pride in (national) football,” Sathianathan said.

This follows a Facebook post last night by Tunku Ismail, in which he challenged, among others, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to the debate after the minister had blamed local players for the decline in Malaysia’s football ranking.

Khairy’s statement came following the country’s all-time low Fifa ranking of 174 last week.

“I urge Astro to put Khairy, a representative from FAM, (Football Association of Malaysia national football coach) Ong Kim Swee, (national football development programme director) Lim Teong Kim, Sathia and myself on live television to talk about who’s responsible for the poor performance of our national team and Malaysian football and what course of action to take,” wrote Tunku Ismail in his post.

Sathianathan said he hoped the others would also accept the debate invitation.

“Since I became a coach in 1992 until now, we have only talked a lot. We have to find a formula on how we want to make the results of the debate a reality,” he said.

“We should debate on the positive things and facts, and we take that and do something. We have to remember that after the debate, it must be followed by comprehensive action,” he added.