February 28 Malaysian league start date too late? Not for Selangor

BetOdds Selangor Premier League Super League Malaysia

Selangor are glad that the 2020 Malaysian season will kick off slightly later than usual.

BY Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â ZULHILMI ZAINAL Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Follow onÃ‚Â Twitter

While the tentative 2020 Malaysian league kick off date of February 28 is found to be a little too late into the year for many, Selangor are glad of the decision.

When talking to the press during the Selangor Football Day on Saturday, association secretary-general Johan Kamal Hamidon remarked that the later start to the season has allowed the club moreÃ‚Â timeÃ‚Â to restructure its organisation, following the recent completion of its takeover of PKNS FC and its appointment of technical director; Michael Feichtenbeiner.

"Although it's generally not favourable for the league to start late as the fixtures of the whole season will be affected, but to us it's a blessing in disguise.

"Selangor are in transition at the moment; our newly-appointed technical director will only arrive tomorrow (Sunday), while the merger with PKNS has only been finalised, so we need more time to reorganise players and staff from both Selangor and PKNS into the development set-up.

"While the first team preparations have been completed, our reserve and youth teams require more time for coordination. We haven't even decided who will play in Selangor II and who will be placed in the youth teams, and who the coaches are. That will be left to the technical director's discretion," he explained.

Johan Kamal. Photo by Zulhilmi Zainal

So grateful is Johan for the time afforded, that he was also forgiving towards competitions organiser Malaysian Football League's (MFL) failure to fulfill its financial commitment towards clubs for the year 2019. Just hours before the Red Giants' open day, MFL had announced that due to the lack of a broadcasting title sponsor, it will not be able to pay the 2019 broadcasting fees promised to clubs in full.

"Of course the funding [shortfall] affects everyone," said the former student union representative. "But MFL has been lenient on certain matters such as registration, which allowed us to fill that gap.

"At least [the late season start] will give us time to secure funding from other sources, and we have to work hard to make up the deficit."

Follow Goal Malaysia's Instagram account!

Selangor players entertain their fans during the 2019 Selangor Football Day at the Shah Alam Stadium.

A post shared by Goal Malaysia (@goal_malaysia) on Dec 13, 2019 at 10:01pm PST

2019-12-15 18:00:03

Comments

Send Your Comment

Download Application