Dear Sathia,
Congratulations on a fine performance from the Kelantan team and more importantly the 1st ever Malaysia Cup they have won. I'm sure the celebrations will go on for months. Your presence in KB must be deeply appreciated by all, with 2 visits to the Final in 2 seasons.
It was a fantastic game and the fact that your team came back to win after going a goal down is a testament to your team talk at the break and your substitutions. It's great for the home fans and for football fans in the country, as we've all seen a great game.
What next for you Sathia? You've got a 6 month suspension hanging around your neck and I'm sure that the people who are behind this were there at Bukit Jalil last nite to hand you the winner's medal. It reeked of unfairness that you were suspended on the eve of the return leg of the semi-final over something you said 3 months ago.
I'm reminded of Ian Holloway's recent tirade against the "powers in football", FIFA and several others as he defended Sir Alex during the Rooney saga. He took them to task and was extremely passionate about it, so much so one would think we had to dip into his own pocket to pay for Rooney's pay rise. He wasn't fined, suspended or even reprimanded for his remarks even though he was in NO way involved in the matter. He had his point and everyone could see that.
This being 2010 and the fact that football belongs to the people not FAM, I feel it's absolutely wrong for them to slap a ban on people speaking on the sport. Especially the people in the sport. Just because they are the guardians of the sport in Malaysia, what people think and feel about the sport is a reflection of what they do with their guardianship.
Football is a sport that sparks a lot of debate, and currently Sepp Blatter is even defending the right to continue voting for future World Cups despite the furore over vote rigging. There's no suspensions and banning the press there.
What has happened to you in the past, with your remarks on fitness of players and this one on the Terengganu and Perlis "home" tie must be taken as a "person in the know" remark. If some "grey matter deficient" official is unable to do so, he should resign.
If this kind of malaise is going to persist, I would like to suggest this. Take your Malaysia Cup Final Winners Medal and some mementos from your time here and relocate to Japan, Korea, Australia or New Zealand. These are all countries where there are proper footballing set ups, from grassroots to the Top League and they regularly compete to play in the World Cup if not play in it regularly.
Personally I think the A League in Australia is best for you. There might be some prejudice as a foreign coach, but you have the qualifications, the winning mentality and now a winners medal to go with that. We'll miss your quality coaching here, but I think you'll better serve the sport, the country and even yourself by coaching elsewhere.
I think it'll just be a matter of time before you succeed over there, especially without the hindering forces from within the sport here. There might even be opportunities for Malaysian players to ply their trade with you, and that will be great for the sport.
Look at Steve McLaren and our own Lim Teong Kim with Bayern Munich. They are more respected outside their own countries and you can't buy that kind of respect.
With your knowhow and experience, I wish you the best in the future and hope that you will let the world see the positive side of Malaysian football. It seems to me that the only way to do this is to leave the country as staying in it will make the so called "experts" in the sport try and keep you for excelling with their underhanded ways.
Wishing you all the best.
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