BY JOSEF T. RAMOS CORRESPONDENT
PHILIPPINE Football Federation (PFF) President Mariano Araneta assured former men’s football team British mentor Simon McMenemy he won’t be totally displaced after the PFF has decided to hire a highly rated German coach.
Araneta, who arrived on Saturday from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress in Qatar, told
The Manila Times in a phone interview that he will talk to Azkals team manager Dan Palami regarding the fate of McMenemy.
“Dan and I will discuss about the situation because we really don’t want to put him out since he is responsible to Azkals’ improvement,” said Araneta, referring to Mc-Menemy’s big accomplishment when he helped the team reached its first Suzuki Cup semifinal appearance last year.
The lack of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) license, said Araneta, is the main reason why the PFF tapped a new mentor since it is one of the requirements needed for the Azkals’ participation in the AFC Challenges Cup on February 9 in Bacolod and 16 in Mongolia.
But Araneta, who replaced the beleaguered former PFF chief Jose Mari Martinez on November 27, said they will still consider hiring McMenemy to coach the Philippines 17-and-under team because his expertise is also a valuable asset to Philippine football.
“We can’t allow him [Mc-Menemy] to just go. We still need him,” he said. “He can help us develop our young team. In terms of basic things in the game, he can help us. We’re considering him to coach in tournaments outside the country which doesn’t need any UEFA license.”
Without UEFA license, Palami has chosen German Hans Michael Weiss to replace McMenemy for the coming AFC Challenges Cup after meeting with Weiss and officials of the German Football Association last week. McMenemy’s contract expired in December.
McMenemy, who guided the Philippines to a 2-0 upsetting of reigning champion Vietnam and drew its game against Myanmar and Singapore on the way to the semifinals in Suzuki Cup, is reportedly “disappointed” with the PFF decision.
But Araneta said the PFF will get in touch with McMenemy soon.
Palami said Weiss was highly recommended by the Germans, who will extend an assistance package that will include subsidy meant to help augment the cost of bringing the new coach to the country.
Source : Manila Times
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Good job, PFF.
ReplyDeleteAt least we will still have McMenemy on the team.
Only the best for Philippine football...and McMenemy has proven himself to be one of the best.
I'll bet that if Martinez were still president, he would have totally forgotten about McMenemy.
ReplyDeleteBut the question is will Simon even want to continue in the Philippines after he was dumped like that in the first place? It sounds so shameless ("kapal ng mukha") for the PFF to only now offer to keep him in another capacity after the damage has been done.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't have a license. That's why he was passed over.
ReplyDeleteNo "dumping" involved.
Simon did a great job at Suzuki 2010, but if the team really wants to take the next step, they really might wanna consider a coach with more experience, and yes, a license to boot.
He's shown the ability to motivate young players so maybe his place is with the youth squad or the under 23 team to play in SEA games, while he builds his resume' and earns his license.
Mel
ReplyDeleteHe was not dumped. We do not have a choice but to replace him. Both PFF/Mr.Palami and Mr.Simon knows that from the beginning. Im sure Mr.Simon already got the head-up that this will happened. Its not PFF's or Mr.Palamis fault at all. Even if Mr.Simon is the Schumacher of futbol(coach), we can no longer let him drive our car coz he doesnt have the right license. It doesnt take a scientist to understand how Mr.Palami handled this. It was totally the right decision. About the part where Mr.Simon was not informed, people where speculating before Mr.Palami gave the official statement,it was never his intention to disrespect Mr.Simon that way.
To make things short, what Mr.Palami is doing for the team is for the teams own good. He still gets my 2 thumbs up on this. If even Mr.Palami's friends or he himself read this, he should know that majority of the futbol fans understands what happened. Its those people who doesnt know much who are making noises. Dont worry Mr.Palami, keep it up.
Well, all's welll that ends well. Ive always maintained that McMenemy should still be part of the development of Philippine football. He deserves every chance and we would be very unprofessional if we let him go under the circumstances as well as being ingrates. I am glad Araneta will look into this to undo the damage. Whether he was sacked or not, is not the point. Proper due notice is needed and you just dont say anything and hire anybody else. What if they decided to drop Etheridge and Younghusband for whatever reason, would you just not inform them of the decision. Even If his contract has expired, this should have been handled better. McMenemy is still a major part of that team that has brought us glory and more importantly respect in the region.
ReplyDeleteNice gesture.
ReplyDeleteIf the PFF and Mr. Palami were a little more creative, they could've approached the English FA to ask for the same kind of assistance the Germans were offering. After all, we have the Younghusbands, Etheridge, and of course Mr. McMenemy.
I can imagine this is something the English FA can easily do and even have Mr. McMenemy as part of the deal, as in helping him get the license and having him coach again after he gets it. I think the Azkals training in Fulham's grounds would increase that team's and the Premiership's popularity in the RP even more. But that's just my imagination.
I wish Mr. McMenemy the best and I hope that if he can be involved in matters RP football where both parties benefit, that he would.
Good luck to Mr.McMenemy!
ReplyDelete"We’re considering him to coach in tournaments outside the country which doesn’t need any UEFA license"
ReplyDeleteI see what they're trying to do. Use the Germans only for UEFA license-required matches. Good plan, but the Germans probably won't stand by to let some guy who was unknown before the Suzuki cup to upstage them. But then again, paki nila? We want Simon!
But seriously, they're right. We can't just let him go because it would seem that the Azkals and McMenemy are just to good of a combination.
"Damage" has been done because Palami was beaten by the internet at the announcements. But in today's world, being beaten at disseminating information by the internet is common.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I think it is still reasonable and not shameless for the PFF to offer Simon another position. More than that, it's also an obvious decision. So, I hope that Simon will understand and stay with the Philippines. Besides... once we get younger players, the Azkals and the U23 team will practically be the same team.
On a brighter note, it's nice that football is making news nowadays even if it is (not really) bad news.
I agree with xyz, we should reach out to the English FA more. All of their big clubs are involved in one way or another to most of the countries in SE Asia except for the Philippines. They should look at the Philippines as a new market. The Germans to their credit have always been ready to lend us a hand. We ve had a few coaches already train under their development programs as well players in the past.
ReplyDeletelols a no license coach performed better than a "licensed" coach.
ReplyDeleteKARMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!