Kingdom of football: Press snippets

David Booth, Crown's new coach, speaks to the press

At the press conference in the Crown Sports Bar to announce the arrival of David Booth as the new Phnom Penh Crown head coach this morning, the assembled media were given the opportunity to ask questions to the new man. Amongst his answers were the following comments;

What are your plans? "I'm here to work hard and to try and bring as much success to the club in the short period I am here. I've not seen the players train yet, I've seen a few clips on YouTube, so I'll have to look at the players who are currently in the number 1 position in the league right now, assess them and see what we want to do as a club. For the 4 months I will be here, I want to gain as much success as I can, remain in 1st place and I'm sure the President, myself and the staff will come to an agreement if we need new players. I'm hoping I can improve the players we have here and the most important element is that I have a good working relationship with the players."
What's your playing formula? "Every coach has his own way of playing and I'm no different. It's important that we understand that the players and the club are half-way through their season and we're in 1st place, the players are in place already, they are doing well, and that I don't come in and disrupt and confuse anyone. I have come to join in rather than dictate terms. For me it's very important to get a good working relationship with the players and I have a lot to offer them with my experience."
How do you set up your teams? "I like my teams to play attractive attacking football and to win games, but to do that you must concede the least number of goals. If you can do that you will win games. If we don't give goals away, we will get chances to win. Once your team is organized defensively, it is easier to work on attacking options. So we must organize the defence first as the starting point.That's the key."
Commenting on a question about Khim Borey, the PPCFC player he took to Sisaket, David Booth's last club: "I saw him play 3 games in the Suzuki Cup. He scored a hat-trick against East Timor and teams are always looking for goalscoring strikers. I felt he had a lot to offer and it was important for him to play at a higher level. Of the Cambodian national team players, Borey is the most well-known around the region. He had one or two injuries whilst I was at Sisaket and I didn't stay there too long in the end."
What's the difference between Cambodia and other countries? "The difference between Cambodia and other nations is that the others started their development and programs a long time before Cambodia had their chance to begin and so they are ahead with their ability."
Booth will meet his new team for the first time tomorrow afternoon at their training headquarters in Tuol Kork, ahead of the resumption of the Metfone C-League on Saturday 9 July, when Crown face the bottom-club Rithysen. Not exactly a tough opening match for the new head coach if all goes to plan.