Coach Bok's back

The most successful coach in the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League is back.

Richard Bok, who won four league titles and three RHB Singapore Cups with Warriors FC (then known as SAFFC) has taken over the reins of the Singapore Cubs team playing in the Prime League on a part-time basis.

The Cubs are effectively the national Under-19 team, and are made up mostly of players from the 2010 Youth Olympic Games squad.

In response to The New Paper's queries, a Football Association of Singapore (FAS) spokesman said: "The FAS has agreed terms with Richard Bok to appoint him as head coach of the National Under-19 team from June 1 on a one-year part-time contract.

"Richard will be working closely with (national head coach) Bernd Stange and FAS technical director Slobodan Pavkovic to prepare the team for competitive tournaments such as the Prime League and next year's pre-Olympic qualifiers."

In the statement, Bok said: "I am heartened to note that the FAS is committed to further enhancing its youth development programmes (and) I appreciate that (they are) always exploring opportunities for local coaches like myself to further enhance our capabilities whenever possible."

Since leaving the Warriors at the end of 2012 after 18 years as a player and then coach, Bok has been working as a manager executive at a local insurance company since March last year.

NOT A SECRET

The 44-year-old has made no secret of his desire to continue as a top-level coach, but he was overlooked for the head coach positions at the Courts Young Lions in 2013, and then the LionsXII at the start of this year.

TNP understands the coach, who holds an Asian Football Confederation Professional Diploma, was also interviewed for a job at Chinese second division club Guangdong Sunray Cave before the start of the 2013 season, but nothing came out of it.

He has since been coaching at the St Michael's Football Academy, and also handled the Marina Bay Sands team that competed in the Inter-Hotel League.

Bok met his Cubs for the first time on Thursday evening, and told TNP: "I've been on the lookout to get back into coaching, so it's quite exciting for me.

"I'll do my best to help the boys and impart what I have learned so far, and hopefully I can help make them better players."

This article was first published on May 31, 2014.
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