Johor Darul Ta’azim (JDT) owner Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim has officially revealed the real reason why four of his players retired from the national team over the past few days.
The likes of Safiq Rahim (national team captain) and Aidil Zafuan (national team vice-captain) left Harimau Malaysia yesterday whereas S. Kunanlan and Amirulhadi Zainal quit international football for good earlier today, which sent everyone into a state of confusion.
Their decisions to retire from international football came after The Crown Prince of Johor expressed his disappointment with how things are poorly handled in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP).
“A few players came to see me and told me their intentions and I told them about their decisions and what was my opinion on the matter. We decided to help them and announce it through our Facebook page because of the recent abusing from irresponsible football fans on the football players,” Tunku Ismail said on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page.
Tunku Ismail went on and further slammed the national football organization as well as having the back of four of his players, and maybe even more, in the days to come.
“It is easy to criticize but you have to put yourself in their shoes to understand their decision. These player love their country and representing the country is the greatest honour they have ever gone through in their careers. They chose to retire not because they do not love Malaysia, but because they are human beings like you and me. They left because they are tired of unnecessary call ups and have to spend months in training camp doing nothing.
“They have to play for an organisation that never stand up for their well being and they do not even do anything when others fail to receive salaries from their clubs. They are playing for a president who never attend trainings or meetings, a leader who does not even know their name and existence, an organisation that could not care less when they get injured.
The 32 year-old also stated that FAM does what they do best, which is just ignore the players, clubs and supporters, and demands changes in the organisation in years to come.
“I will do whatever it takes to kill corruption in Malaysian football and those who are responsible. We need with football knowledge and professional coaches, not businessmen.
“To FMLLP, you are supposed to take care of the club’s interest and the fans and not a few individuals to make millions. This is goes out to Dato’ Noza and Kevin Ramalingam.”
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