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‘We are failing our football, with reckless hiring’

We read and hear a great deal these days about how awful it is to be a (Malaysian) footballer.

Having to work in an environment where one has to deal with months of unpaid salaries, while coming home to an anxious wife who is about to go through childbirth. It all sounds terrible.

I will admit, I was also at fault for spending money that I didn’t have. The initial funds provided by the “investor” were an indication of promising times ahead.

Except that one fine day, I came across news that those initial funds were actually cash borrowed from a religious school, which only agreed on the loan because the technical director apparently provided his shophouses as a guarantee. And yes, I’ve been wondering as well, why on Earth would the technical director place a guarantee for the “investor”. The answer is simply mysterious.

But what you actually need to know is that I survived the scam and sabotage, and have positioned Perak FC in very able hands. At the time of crisis, if you wanted to see how my face looked like if it was tattooed on the armpit, you would simply need to walk into my office. I’d be sitting in a dark corner with an oversized jacket, sweating at the financial summary and wondering if I could get away with paying everyone with a smile.

In my previous article, I wrote about the benefits of privatisation. I also wrote how putting the “right” person to manage the club is equally paramount in securing those benefits. And that’s the very part where we failed our football.

To understand why football today is so grisly and awful, we need to go back to when football was semi-professional and when the economy was alive and kicking in Kedah, Perlis, Melaka, and every other state in Malaysia. It was the time when the state poured money into their football team. No one’s quite sure why.

What we are sure about is that the head of the state – the ‘Menteri Besar’ – would bestow a handsome amount of funds to the football club, which he apparently, would also be the President. A bit like that former prime minister, who was also the finance minister and chairman of a sovereign fund. You’d think that after turning professional and being privatised, football clubs would then have the enterprise to seek sponsorships or any other alternative source of income.

Unfortunately not. And this is where the need for change in leadership comes into the story.

In essence, the first step when hiring the right leader is to be really clear on the expectations of the industry and the values of the person you want to hire. When you’re clear on the outcome of the role, you can then think about the attributes, experience, and personality of the person you want in that role.

Due to the change in the industry, football clubs need people with the attributes to steer the club through significant disruptions, needed transitions, or other structural transformations required. The path may be faced with much resentment and there will certainly be defiance, but the person in charge must have the stubbornness and grit to stay true to the path.

Hiring the right people is one of the most critical and toughest challenges any organisation will face. Reckless appointments will lead to utter confusion. And this is not exclusive to football clubs.

We all saw what happened with the appointment of Datuk Hans Isaac as Perbadanan Stadium Malaysia chairman. We ended up with an iconic 80,000-seating capacity stadium, but a football pitch with patches looking like the Sahara.

Reckless appointments of leadership positions need to stop. Know what the industry needs, know what attributes are required to drive those needs, and then hire. And I don’t care if the person is a politician, the most popular radio deejay in the country, or loves wearing pyjamas to work.

This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.