Friday, November 25, 2011

The FFC view

In an interview with the Football Federation of Cambodia's spokesman, May Tola, in today's Phnom Penh Post, it's clear that the FFC have absolutely no intention of changing the man in charge of the Cambodian national team, Lee Tae-Hoon, who has presided over a litany of disappointing results and early exits from all competitions since he took over fifteen months ago. In explaining the Federation's position, Tola effectively said the FFC know what they are doing, they have the experience and the knowledge, they are fully responsible, they won't listen to public opinion or what he called 'non-technical people's opinions' and that Lee is suitably qualified in technical and player management skills. He said that FFC have no reason to replace the coach and that, in their view, the team is improving.
Though you wouldn't expect him to say anything less, as the FFC are the ones who employed the South Korean coach, albeit the Korean FA pay the man's salary, and who recently gave him an extension to his contract through to July 2012. They simply don't have the balls to admit they made a big mistake in giving the job to someone with the absolute minimum of coaching experience - two spells as assistant coach of the Korean women's team - and who has spent the last fifteen months treading water. I challenge the FFC spokesman to explain exactly how the national team's performances are improving. They look tactically naive, players are played out of position, key players have been ignored, tossed aside or benched, fitness has overshadowed mental toughness and tactical nous, and there is no obvious indication that we are moving in the right direction. Meanwhile, we see countries at our level improving their results and leaving us behind in their wake. But it seems, the FFC are happy to back their choice of coach to the hilt, in the face of mounting criticism from the kingdom's football-loving public.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obviously, if you don't admit that you have a problem, how can you solve it? It's not just in football, in politics, too, in Cambodia. The prime minister never admits he's made mistakes. He never admits the country has problems. In his view, everything is going smoothly. Hopeless....

Anonymous said...

It is ashamed that Mey Tota views public as non-knowledgeable. He should be the one who will be replaced first. Even elected government, politicians, development experts, WB, UN still value the importance of community knowledge where they are working for/with.

Anonymous said...

comments supported.

The question that we should ask, how often May Tola go to see football match at national stadium? what he based was largely relied on his followers to give some specific info.

You will never success as long as you carefully control the thing and make it happen by yourself.

You will repeatedly experience the failure. please trust me.

Your selected team will always lose and never break records if you continue to do your job in that way.

Can't believe................

Go home all.........

Nissay

Andy Brouwer said...

It's very disappointing that the FFC spokesman should dismiss the opinions of the football public as easily as he did. He views himself as a technical football expert and doesn't feel he needs to listen to anyone else. He also states that the FFC have sufficient knowledge and expertise to control Cambodian football, without input from anyone else. He is sadly mistaken. The results over the last 15 months are evidence that the FFC do not know what is best for Cambodian football, as much as they think they do. The results under Lee, their choice of coach, have been disastrous. The team is NOT improving as the spokesman suggests, in fact we are going backwards. Yet the FFC refuse to acknowledge that, despite the evidence in front of them. I can only conclude that the reasons why Lee is still in the post is nothing to do with his coaching effectiveness (which has been shown to be very poor). Other factors are at work in this decision. And only the FFC and their spokesman know what they are.
Andy

Anonymous said...

What improving results is he talking about? Obviously not the 6-0, 4-1, 2-1 defeats. The team looked promising under Scott O'Donell, the Aussie coach. Sadly, he was shown the door. Bring him back!

Anonymous said...

Because there are still people who have same mindset as Mr. Tola, that's y we still stand here after 20 years. Where will we be in the next 20 years? Just farther and farther from our neighbors?

Anonymous said...

We can conclude that the failure resulted from the exclusive of public opinion. They never care about other opinion that is why khmer still like today in all fields.

Regards,
Nissay

Anonymous said...

You said it all Andy! Astonishing comments from May Tola. The FFC must be the only footballing body in the world that rewards failure. The coach has presided over a litany of failure and is held in high esteem by the FFC and even has his contract extended! The decision by the FFC to take just 20 players, with no reserve strikers, to the return leg of the World Cup qualifier in Vientiane after leading 4-2, is just one of a list of abject failures from a clueless FFC. The coach does not speak English or Khmer and has no rapport with his players and no coaching pedigree. Just the man for the job!