“They do not go around fault finding, or being jealous or blame others. Instead, they blame themselves and make the necessary changes. That is intelligent”, the Johor Crown Prince said during a discussion on local football, which was telecast live on Facebook on Tuesday.
Also participating in the discussion was former Malaysia and Johor player Shebby Singh.
The discussion on the management of state football associations also touched on the fall of the Kelantan FA, saying it was due to the mismanagement of funds and not because of any interference by FAM.
Tunku Ismail, who is more popularly known as TMJ, then questioned as to how it was some other party’s fault when it was the state FA which had failed to pay the salary of players.
He also touched on why Kedah’s performance had deteriorated compared with the previous season, referring to the events surrounding the hiring of then Kedah coach, Tan Cheng Hoe, as the assistant coach for the national team earlier this year.
TMJ said that the move started after he took over as FAM president, and the search began for a new foreign coach to have “some foreign expertise for a change”, with that foreign coach being assisted by a local coach.
“A few days later, we were looking at which of the local coaches is the best? At the same time, we also came up with an offer for those who were interested to contact us”.
He said that the first person to approach him was Tan.
“Tan Cheng Hoe is a very good coach and I like him. So we sat and spoke about salary. However, if I was going to take him, then it would turn into a conspiracy as though I was using FAM and Tan Cheng Hoe to diminish the performance of the Kedah team”, he said.
“The Kedah team won two championships this year. If I offered him RM100,000, then you could blame me for having hidden intentions to diminish the team’s performance as I motivated him with money,” he said.
TMJ added that the final offer was similar to that by the Kedah FA but for Tan to pay the tax on his own, instead of by his employer as is the arrangement under the state.
“I even advised him to stay in Kedah but he decided otherwise, and chose to stay in the national team under me”, he said.