THE ex-Worthing Football Club assistant boss Simon McMenemy always used to say he loved the fans and atmosphere at Woodside Road but these days he has a whole country cheering his new side to success.
In seven short months since leaving Rebels, the 33-year-old has become a national hero of the Philippines after taking his team to the semi-finals of the most prestigious cup in South East Asia.
The young boss has caused the biggest upset in recent years of Asian football, sat in the dug-out surrounded by 90,000 fans, and become one of the most recognisable faces in the continent.
The scale of their achievements will not be recognised by most here, but their performance in the AFF Suzuki Cup has turned football into the number one sport in the Philippines.
Amid corruption and against the odds, the team and manager, who do not even have their own national stadium to play in, have become overnight stars and turned the county football mad, so much so that after being knocked out by Indonesia, the match was the second most talked about topic in the world on Twitter.
McMenemy admitted it has been a unbelievable journey so far, and said: “It has been a rollercoaster ride, both personally and professionally. Six months ago I was playing in front of one man and his dog in Haywards Heath, then next I am here with a crowd of 90,000 people, and I hate to think how many more watching on television.
“When I sit and think now it still stuns me, it has been just incredible. I remember thinking on my first day at training, wow, I am really out of my depth here, but when I got into it, I realised it was just coaching and that is what I do.
“What has been fantastic is how football has become the hot topic in the country now, before in the Philippines it was all basketball, that was the number one sport, as they copy everything about America.
“But now all the talk is about football, the players are on television every day and the president wants to build a national stadium.
“I am very proud of the fact that my name is helping the Philippines develop with the sport. It is one thing coaching in Sussex and doing summer courses, but to go there and change 93 million peoples concept of football and over take basketball in popularity is unbelievable.”
Speaking back in August, McMenemy was just hoping to qualify for the Suzuki Cup, so has exceeded even his wildest dreams.
They not only qualified but came runners-up in their group, unbeaten against three-time champions Vietnam, defending hosts Singapore and Myanmar, a side they had never beaten in their history.
They were eventually knocked-out over two legs in the semi-finals, 2-0 overall, by an in-form Indonesia, who had conceded just two goals in the whole competition.
McMenemy said: “We went into our last game of the group stage top which was just phenomenal, after all we had just aimed to be competitive. We grabbed a 90th-minute equaliser against Singapore and then pulled off easily the biggest upset in football there by beating Vietnam.
“To put it into context, we have three pro players in a squad of 24 and not even a home ground. While all of the Vietnamese players are pros that are paid a lot of money, and we went in and beat them 2-0 and set the world alight, we were really mixing with the big boys.
“Their manager wouldn’t even shake my hand after the game, he was waving me away which was all caught on television.
“We had out tactics berated by them, saying we didn’t play proper football or offensively, but we beat them by two goals, so I am not sure how that works. But all the players we just in disbelief at what we had achieved.”
It has been a quick rise to footballing fame for the young prodigy, who was managing in the County League at Haywards Heath before taking over at Worthing as assistant to Simon Colbran.
Although his fame has also brought unwanted press attention. A photograph in a night club with a glamour model, who McMenemy thought was just another fan, turned into tabloid rumours and a front-page scandal.
He said: “It all went a little bit crazy after the semi-final in Indonesia as we became very recognisable with people.
“We were on the news every day, so every time we went out it went crazy. One day we had to leave a mall just because of all the attention, it almost turned dangerous. Every time I left the hotel I had a security guard and couldn’t get through the lobby with 60-odd photographers.
“On the last night the team went out to a bar and were posing for pictures, the next day I was all over the news with rumours of a scandal, which was insane, so I have learned to be a lot more careful.”
The Vietnam result came as a perfect birthday present for McMenemy, who celebrated his 33rd the day after, on December 6.
He added: “When I saw the schedule of the game and that it was the day before, I knew I would be either crying or bouncing off the walls. Realistically, we went into it expecting damage limitation, so I really could have been crying but it turned out I was a national hero instead.”
But although McMenemy, who has an international cap for Brunei, was obviously devastated to be knocked-out so close to the final, he was delighted with their achievement.
He said: “Indonesia are a hugely decent side, they had scored 13 goals in the competition and only scored twice over two legs against us, still for half an hour after the game we were disappointed yes, the chance was there for a major final.
“But when you sit down and see the scale of the task it doesn’t feel so bad. It’s hard for people in this country to understand what the players achieved.”
McMenemy is now home for a break until the end of January when he flies back out to the Philippines, where he has already received a verbal offer of a new three-year contract, although he has also had offers from two Indonesian clubs, and one from a Vietnamese Premiership team.
Shoreham Herald
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National hero, indeed.
ReplyDeleteSimon probably does not even understand how much the Philippine football community loves him.
And I'm glad that he's been offered a three-year contract with the Azkals.
So many anti-Mcemeny here. All I can say is those guys are idiots and maybe wasnt watching any global soccer leagues.
ReplyDeletePlease GET REAL AND THINK AGAIN.
For this moment he is the suitable coach maybe not the best.
But not just only the players but the credit is also for him. No doubt about that.
Because if you suck it up, all the great teams in the world was managed by the great coaches the world has ever had.
Azkals and em were all the man!
Thank you Coach! As a football fan and player, I thank you with all my heart. Finally, Filipinos are giving more attention to the sport.
ReplyDeletei really love socer! sinc grade 4..it change my life!
ReplyDeleteI remember the initial reaction of so-called Pinoys when Coach Simon got the job. Not so nice and in fact rude comments. He has proven them all wrong. He was destined to coach Azkals. Now, give him that 3 year contract before the Vietnamese steals him from us.
ReplyDeleteaetcuban@yahoo.com
I hope they don't replace Simon Mcenemy, He has not only achieved results on the pitch but has instilled passion and commitment on the players
ReplyDeleteas demonstrated by our ability to make last minute goals.
Without the proper motivational skills, even the best coaches cannot get the team to get past the letdown they experience after being a goal or two down. Our team tends to rally and push for the equalizing goal inspite of this initial setback. This is a reflection not only on our players but also of the coach as well.
He has also very good communication skills with both the players and the press and is adept at answering questions at press conferences praising both teams and engendering support from fans on the opposing team, which you don't always get from a coach whose first language is not English.
The team has demonstrated a lack of seriousness and concentration in the days prior to the match with too many distractions(shopping, etc.) being allowed, but this doesn't seem to affect their performances on the pitch on game day too much. His inexperience at this level reveals itself at such situations but overall he has done a good job.
His management of players substitutions or lack thereof, I will attribute to our serious lack of depth so hopefully with more talent he can use this tool to positively affect the outcome of the game near the end.
Hopefully he gets the long term contract he is looking for. He deserves it.
Let's hope that the verbal agreement turns into a written contract soon. With more resources invested in football (i.e. assistance from Germany), more success will come our way.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, why do some Filipinos say "soccer" when it is "football?"
Sorry soccer is the term for football here in the US to avoid confusion with the more popular sport of American(gridiron) football. It is also used in Australia and NZ bec. of their own version of Aussie Rules Football.
ReplyDeleteIt is a term actually coined by the English a long time ago which was short for association football to differentiate it from rugby football which was also called rugger at that time. Both sports had the same roots by the way.
The person who used the word soccer is probably part of the Pinoy diaspora who moved to the US, NZ or Australia. When I first played it in the Philippines I used to call it football all the time but now am used to the word soccer here in the US. Either way works for me. It is also called calcio in Italy, futbol in Spanish speaking countries, Fussball in German, etc.
ReplyDeleteYes Coach Simon Macmenemy did a good job in the AFF League, but we can't take the credit from the previous coaches who worked with the team. Perhaps the boys already matured to play when Macmenemy came in. With all due respect...
ReplyDeleteI think it would not only be unjust to replace Mcmenemy now, it would be idiotic. Any team needs time to gel and fully integrate a system based on our strengths. You then improve the team by getting more players and gradually add them to the mix. Simon has done wonders in such a short span of time. He has to be given an opportunity with more players and resources. He deserves it and has proved his credibility and technical knowledge. As i said before, the only way you can give him a failing mark is if the expectation before the start of the event was to win the championship. Time will come when a coach has nothing left to offer and obviously he will also get to that stage and have to move on and try new challenges. But not now. You would be an antifootball disciple like martinez to do that now. (Again the nerve of that guy to suggest we should replace him and the core of the Azkals!!)
ReplyDeleteSimon did a great job but he will have to secure the necessary coaching licence at least an AFC "B" to be able to qualify to coach in the coming AFC tournaments. Its a process so he will not be able to coach in the coming AFC Challenge Cup. This is why the PFF and team manager Palami took the offer of the German Football Federation and negotiations will begin in a few days.
ReplyDeleteWord is while Simon may not be qualified to coach the Men's National for the Challenge Cup---they are considering him to coach the U19 national team while he works on his coaching licence too.
For Pete's sake get real ... Vietnamese will not steal McMenemy from the Phil. National Team. It is a tactic of Price & Position Tagging... Show us the contract & we will believe you.
ReplyDelete