Football: Sundram resigns as LionsXII coach after 2 years in charge and winning MSL title

Football: Sundram resigns as LionsXII coach after 2 years in charge and winning MSL title

SINGAPORE - After months of speculation over his future, V. Sundramoorthy will tender his resignation as coach of the LionsXII football team on Monday, a day after his 48th birthday.

The tactician will hand in his notice to the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) this morning and will join Negeri Sembilan, who play in the second-tier Malaysian Premier League (MPL).

His reign at Negeri Sembilan will begin officially on Nov 1, which means that he will not be in the dugout when the national Under-23s, whom he also coaches, begin their SEA Games campaign in Myanmar in December.

National coach Bernd Stange, Courts Young Lions' Aide Iskandar and former national captain Fandi Ahmad are the names that have been bandied about as candidates for the SEA Games job.

Sundram's departure is expected to mark the beginning of the break-up of the side that captured the hearts of Singaporeans when they won the Malaysian Super League (MSL) in July.

Captain Shahril Ishak is being courted by at least two Malaysian teams and Thailand's Bangkok Glass. Baihakki Khaizan is set to sign for MPL's Johor FA while Hariss Harun is in talks with Johor Darul Takzim. Safuwan Baharudin has also attracted the attention of T-Team.

Sundram declined to comment yesterday but a source said: "After winning the MSL, Sundram wants a fresh challenge and he felt that leading relegated Negeri Sembilan back into the elite MSL is the best choice for him.

"He won the MSL title with a team made up largely of inexperienced youngsters and national servicemen.

"He will have no problems coaching Negeri Sembilan and the state sees him as the ideal man to help them gain promotion."

When speculation about Sundram's impending departure first broke in August, the FAS announced that it had started contract talks with the former Lions star earlier that month.

But the source said that Sundram had agreed in principle to join the Malaysian state side as early as Aug 17. Negeri Sembilan have also promised to nearly double his current salary of $8,000 to $15,000.

Sundram was also wanted by four other MSL teams, with two of them putting concrete offers on the table for his consideration.

His departure will mark the end of an eventful two-year period for Singapore football, which returned to Malaysian competition last year for the first time since 1994 with the LionsXII.

Last season, he led the team to second place in the MSL and the semi-finals of the Malaysia Cup.

This year, he rebuilt the team with a massive injection of young blood. He organised the team and used set-pieces to devastating effect as the side took the league title on 43 points, three points ahead of long-time rivals Selangor.

He gave opportunities to youngsters like winger Faris Ramli, utility player Hafiz Abu Sujad and striker Shahfiq Ghani while his tactics also brought out the best in centre-back Safuwan, midfielder Isa Halim and skipper Shahril.

However, the campaign came to a disappointing end last Friday when the LionsXII crashed out of the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals at the hands of Malaysian military side ATM 4-2 on aggregate.

meng@sph.com.sg


Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.