16 September 2014

Former Azkals coach Simon Mcmenemy aims for club success with Loyola Meralco Sparks

AFTER a short stint with the Philippine men’s football team four years ago, Simon McMenemy is back and ready to stay for the long haul at club level in the United Football League. The Scottish mentor who steered the Azkals to a historic semifinal finish in the 2010 Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup and sparked the renaissance in the sport in the country, has returned to handle the star-studded Loyola Meralco club.   

A lack of license to manage a national team barred him from getting a contract extension with the Philippines and his coaching journey brought him to club teams in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Maldives. Now McMenemy is back in the country to lead the Sparks starting with the UFL season that kicks off on Saturday with the Football Alliance League Cup. “It genuinely is quite a humbling experience to come back and have people tell you that you were a major reason why football is the way it is now,” Mcmenemy said on Tuesday at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum where he was formally introduced. “I’ve learned a huge amount in the last four years and I’m totally a different person than I was four years ago,” the 36-year-old coach said. “What I bring here is experience.”


 Mcmenemy takes over from Vince Santos, who guided the Sparks to a breakthrough title in the 2013 UFL Cup before they ended up as bridesmaids to Global FC in the League wars. “There’s a great motivation for us to do well this year and I’m very keen to see these guys play,” the Mcmenemy said. With stars Phil and James Younghusband, Matthew Hartmann, and Simon Greatwich re-signing and a key local acquisitions in Anton del Rosario, Eddie Mallari in the side that still has Lee Joo Young, Joaco Canas, Baba Sampana, Roxy Dorlas, Sam Bonney, and Fred Gonzalez, Mcmenemy believes he has the material to sustain the gains the team has made. “I think we have the best squad in the league,” he declared less than a month into the job. 


“There’s a great crop of young and experienced Filipino players.” The Sparks also have international signings in Pedro Marenco, Max Wright, Jamal Fenelon, Charlie Beaton, Brian Fredrick, Josh Grommen, Jorrel Aristorenas, and Reuben Silitonga. 


Read more at: http://www.spin.ph/football/ufl/news/ex-azkals-coach-simon-mcmenemy-loyola-meralco-sparks-ufl-philippine-football

18 comments:

  1. Another 8 Foreign signings? Wow, when will they have faith on our homegrown players? When would the UFL put some proper rules on limiting foreign players quota? We will always be like England where there own players are the minority in their own league.

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    1. Lol. You want more Ilonggos? Start your own club.

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    2. Who sez Ilonggo's are the only skillfull players in our country? And why do you hate them so much? Maybe they are better than you and despises them that even until today you cannot accept the truth. A lot has changed this time around Anonymous17 September 2014 04:03 as many grassroots had been laid off for quiet awhile now and the talents are at par or even greater sometimes in other regions.

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    3. And those kids that are recipients of your so called grassroots program all of a sudden shot up and now ready to go pro? Lol.

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  2. Another pessimist and crab mentality person commenting?

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    1. Just being realistic. And no I am not putting the Philippines down. All I am saying is the kids are not ready yet. And they wont be. Not in our lifetime. Do you see infrastructures and training facilities being built? Any improvements in the youth coaching system? You need to understand all these before you shoot your mouth off.

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  3. You are the only one who said our kids are not ready. Global FC has U19 players listed in their line while Loyola Meralco, GAU, KayaFC , Ceres FC and the rest of UFL clubs have their own players with good potential waiting for their first team call up. Our coaches are conducting Grassroots Football Program in different regions and provinces since 2004 plus the introduction of FC Barcelona academy style clinic here for the third time . PFA Youth Championships in U12 and U15 boys and u14 girls are already in placed. Lots of coaches now are having their 'C' and 'B' AFC licenses already which could elevate our level of play. Now all this are for the future of our Football. it seems you are clueless and a pessimist person with no national pride and a 'slave' mentality who cannot live without those 'foreigners'..

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    1. You are the one who is clueless. Development doesn't happen in a snap.

      And not enough infrastructure is in place yet.

      The youth players on ufl clubs are the best that they can have at this present time. Not the best that can compete against foreigners. Iys good to have them but dont expect too much from them.

      It will be another 20 years or 50 even.

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    2. Now about coaching. They're getting the right training which is good. A step in the right direction. What kind of players were they before? Did they win big games? Do they have a winning attitude? The right mentality? Do they know what it takes to win? If they played in a team that lost all the time, that got hammered and humiliated and we all know they did.... how can they teach the young ones? Ali Go was in the Philippine team that were bludgeoned by ASEAN teams. The current crop of coaches dont have what is required to win and teach kids to be winners. PFF needs to bring in top caliber coaches with a winning history to fast track our development as a football nation. We will have to wait for the likes of Phil Younghusband and Chieffy Caligdong if they ever decide to become coaches. And they still wont be enough so we gotta wait for the players that they are coaching to retire and become coaches themselves.... god this is exhausting.... IT WILL TAKE ANOTHER LIFETIME!

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    3. You are the one who is clueless if you want PYH and Chieffy as the only coach that is ideal for our youth. You really have no idea what is coaching is all about and you are here keep on whining about our grassroots future. You should take a coaching course so you will have an idea because being a coach doesn't mean you have a history as player with a winning team always. Rafa Benitez was a not really a pro player back in his playing years but guess what he brought Liverpool to the Champions League trophy and he is one of the elite managers in Europe right now. Not all successful players can become a good coach because anybody can be successful as long as he is dedicated and well educated. The youth are our future and if we don't believe and give them exposures they will have no future and its a bleak outlook for our nation as well as for our league. You should read your facts carefully before you speak like you know everything. There's a saying that "People who always complain are those who have no slightest idea of what to do and didn't contribute" because they are those who had a laid back attitude who always expects much without sweating any effort and call themselves "the expert" with only a little knowledge in hand. Thank you and have a good day.

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    4. Maybe you should read my post again. You seem to have a reading comprehension issue. I cited chieffy and pyh as examples only.

      Which part of my response did I complain? I wasnt complaining. I was simply defending the decision of clubs to hire foreigners. It was you who was complaining about the perceived lack of exposure of young ones.

      You are a typical whiney bitch loser Pinoy that misinterprets things.

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    5. And your an incompetent loser who who loves foreign and everything from them except Pinoy. I don't think you're a Filipino by heart your a disgrace to our race as you are not proud to help them improved. You are a pathetic asshole whose only mentality is all about foreign. That's why I admire the Gilas fans because of their belief that even an all filipino on the floor can compete with the international level. I only suggest that limiting foreign players is a constructive part to UFL and Philippine Football which means more exposures to our homegrown players and provide jobs for the country as well.

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    6. Now this is character assasination lol. The poster in favour of foreign players and coaches has the best argument. Why? His reasons are far more realistic while the local boys defender is only being emotional and is now resorting to personal attacks.

      Lol. Raffa as example? Try surrounding him with regular players and lets see him replicate his success with Liverpool.

      And I agree.... success breeds success. If you are mentored by a loser then you will only get losery results like you who went to a loser school and constantly surrounded by out of work losers.

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  4. Coaching the fundamental skills and how to play the game is one thing. Coaching how win is another. That's the bottom line. This is the reality of coaching. It happens all across the world. There are tons of coaches out there but not all can teach you how to win. In fact this goes to all sports really. Winning is similar to that old saying 'success breeds success.' So learning from someone with a track record of losing isn't for the best. We need winners to bring success to our football. Simon Mcmenemy brought beyond success on the pitch. His ward brought a nation into a realization that we can play football too, and that we have the potential to become good at it. Now that's a special kind of winner.

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    1. If I may add, I saw a picture of Becks in a suit with his Spice Girl wife, and he had a smirk on his face. Someone commented, 'now that's how to win in life.' I'm telling you all, success breed success. So do something you know you are good at and who knows where that will take you; perhaps to more opportunities in life you never would have thought of when you were learning from a loser. :D So learn from a winner and start winning in life... lol

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    2. So, you're implying that Football superstars will become successful coaches if given a chance? Diego Maradona, Pele , Dunga and others achieved Cup success? How about SAF, Joachim Low , Phil Jackson and others who are not superstars during their younger years but achieved success in their managerial jobs? You people have no idea what is coaching is all about because you only see players who are famous would be a great a success. I bet if Beckham is the manager of ManU the team would eventually be in chaos more than handled by David Moyes. You people should take up AFC/ UEFA coaching license so your eyes will be open to reality. The past cannot become the present but the future belongs to those who are more committed and more passionate of the sport. Winners can become Losers and Losers will become Champions. You cannot predict a persons mentality so , why judge them early?

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    3. Like I said teaching the fundamentals is one thing. Teaching how to win is another. So learn from winners instead from losers. I'm mainly talking about coaches. And for fuck sake! The main post is about Simon, we all know is a coach, aiming for success at the club level. The Becks was just an add on talking about winning in life generally. Read my first post, without the "add", and that's the main point. And duh of course winners will lose and losers will win, occasionally. But winners will win more. That's the bottom line. And gee that's a common knowledge to sports fans that great players doesn't always translate to becoming good coaches. But winning players will win more than losing players. Winning coaches will win more than losing coaches. That's success breeds success. That's my main point, and don't put words in my mouth. Do what you do best and that may lead you to something greater. Just fucking read first and don't be too eager to reply just for the sake of replying. I think you are the type of person that don't wait to listen but rather waits just to talk back....

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    4. Anonymous20 September 2014 04:37 said: "I bet if Beckham is the manager of ManU the team would eventually be in chaos more than handled by David Moyes." Then closed his/her argument with this: " You cannot predict a persons mentality so , why judge them early?". hahahah. Wow! I was gonna say oximoron but it is not. This is just moron blabbing about something pointlessly.

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