The latest phenomenon in Malaysian football seems to be an interesting one but even Fritz Schmid, who’s the Technical Director of FAM, appears to be baffled with the concept.
The management of several M-League teams have been opting to ‘rest’ their coaches or pressure them into taking a ‘temporary break’, instead of directly sacking them when results do not go in their favour.
The issue has been there for quite some time, though it was restored to the forefront of Malaysian football on Tuesday, after Perak opted to hand Datuk M. Karathu a two-weeks leave, after the team suffered four consecutive defeats. But while Fritz understands the motive behind removing a head coach, he doesn’t understand the process by which it’s being done.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he told FourthOfficial.com
“Any business needs to be professional in dealing with their stakeholders, including football coaches. You negotiate contracts, you agree on terms and conditions in case of a premature termination, and you stick to it.
“For coaches, it’s part of the business to be sacked – but please, let’s handle it with mutual respect. You don’t see companies asking their CEO’s to ‘rest’. It’s not professional,” he added.
B. Sathianathan faced the exact fiasco with ATM this year, when he was told to ‘rest’ indefinitely as soon as results started going on a downward spiral. Similarly, Terengganu’s Abdul Rahman Ibrahim was handed the same fate, as well as Kelantan’s George Boateng.
While clubs have not clarified as to why they pursue this option, speculation has it that it’s a way in which they manouever past the need to pay compensation that fits their contractual obligation with the head coaches.
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