Another board meeting. This time they're concerned that I am applying for too many jobs. I said I won't apply, it doesn't mean I will not attend interviews for clubs that approach me. If they have an issue with that and they end up sacking me then I don't have much of a problem with it.
Maybe the football gods are conspiring in Kuala Lumpur Rovers' favour, the board still want me. I have literally not seen so much respect from a club's board towards me, no matter how much I am struggling. I started off well at the club, I am on a bad run now. But still, after what the board has shown me, I wouldn't mind staying. It depends on the opportunities available, but it is not like I don't care about this club in particular.
SACKED by Kuala Lumpur Rovers. Oh wow, I was talking about how much the board respected me a few moments back, turns out they've basically pretended to be on my side and ruthlessly got rid of me after internal talks. This is the longest time I have stayed at a club after Wealdstone, I have been at Kuala Lumpur Rovers for just a bit over 7 months. I have left them in the relegation zone, just a point off safety in 11th place out of 12. 17 points from 17 games. They have 5 games to go to save themselves from the drop. I have a 22% win percentage. Statistically it is bad, but a lot of it has come down to a poor run of form, we started off pretty well and were once in 4th place in the league after 9 league games. Oh this was not as bad as Cambridge. It was different. We were just about on our level and if I had been given a bit more time I would've kept them up.
So just a few days later in game, I have a new job. And it is Selangor in the Malaysian Super League. The highest football division in Malaysia. And I have got a pay rise by 200 pounds. My current wages at Selangor are 1.6k pounds per week. My Malaysian adventure continues and another club in Malaysia have given me an opportunity to do something for them. This is getting interesting.
Our transfer budget is 100k pounds. Our wage budget 9.72k pounds per week. In my last club, Kuala Lumpur Rovers we had zero transfer budget and barely any wage budget, I did not mention then. But I am mentioning now. The current financial situation is an improvement. Also I have a Continental A License, which I got about 9 months ago in game and I am getting the Continental Pro License.
We kicked off our first game as Selangor manager, we lost 1-0 in the first leg of the Malaysian FA Cup semi final against Kuala Lumpur, thankfully we have the second leg to do something. But we need a response. We also signed a player called Muhd Azam Azmi Murad on a free transfer. Injuries have messed my plans up and we need to do something in the transfer window.
We got knocked out of the Malaysian FA Cup in the semi final by Kuala Lumpur. (not Kuala Lumpur Rovers) It is very disappointing as I thought we had a chance of winning the cup, but we move on. Anyway there is a bit of transfer activity, we have brought in former Kuala Lumpur Rovers player Metha Viblo for 6.75k pounds. He was playing very well when I was KL Rovers manager and I thought I will bring him in. We also brought in Fabian Willibald from FC Inglostadt II for 275 pounds. The other bit of transfer news is that our striker Ifedayo Olusegun is going to Najma, a club in Bahrain on a free transfer in December. So maybe Metha Viblo, the player we brought in, is the replacement. That will depend on how he performs and also in December I will bring in another striker.
Three major things happened. First thing is that Italy won Euro 2024 on my save. They won the previous edition too. Max Allegri is the manager of Italy. Secondly we made three signings. We signed two former KL Rovers players Francesco Paolucci for 12.5k pounds and Gabriel Hawash for 1.9k pounds. We also signed a player called Fredson Rosario from Mindelense for 250 pounds. Yes and last but not the least, we got our first win as Selangor manager, it is a massive win and we are now out of the relegation zone. It is still work in progress as we do our best to rescue Selangor from getting relegated to the division below.
Ah man, the injuries. They have completely rocked our side. Metha Viblo has sparkled into life, but 2 defeats in the league means that we have work to do to stay up. We are just hovering above the relegation zone at the moment. Can we keep Selangor up in the league? Stay tuned to find out.
RELEGATED. Selangor have been relegated from the Malaysian Super League. This is the worst moment in my career so far. I'm stunned. I'm stunned by how poor I have been so far at Selangor. Just lost for words. It happened under my watch and I take full responsibility for it. We finish in 11th out of 12th place. Second bottom. I'll carry on. I will see what things are like. Also on a wage perspective, I have a 35% wage drop in my contract due to the relegation. It is just shambolic. I backed myself. No matter what happens at Selangor after this, this will stay with me. Budgets, don't really care about it, but yeah the transfer budget is 60.63k pounds and the wage budget is 1.28k pounds per week. I'm just shellshocked.
In other news, a player has departed the club. Muhd Iqmal Ramlan has gone to Kelantan United on a free transfer. We brought in Mohd Noor Hamzah on loan from Perak. Also Fode Sanogo is joining the club for 18k pounds from US GN in November.
This is how the league table looks like. So now that the season is officially over, I did something extremely audacious. I asked for a new contract. The board obviously rejected it. And I have started looking for new jobs. In the event I get one which offers me a higher wage than what I am earning at Selangor, I will leave. If I don't, I will stay. If the wage cut kicks in, my choice will be to stay and then re-negotiate a new contract in the next transfer window during the next season which is June next year.
Ruon Tongyik has left Selangor to join Rockdale City in Australia on a free transfer. We also got in a player called Muhd Nasrol Amri Kamarul Azhar from Kelantan for 325 pounds. He will join us at the end of his contract at Kelantan.
I don't usually talk about youth intakes at my clubs. But yes I have to make a dedicated post to this guy. A truly generational talent for Malaysian football. He is our best player at the age of FIFTEEN. His name is Rizal Rozali. He is a striker. A gift from the universe, a player who could potentially turn around my managerial career at Selangor, assuming that I don't leave.
So there is some news, my wage has dropped from 1.6k pounds per week to 1k pounds per week. So that means I will be STAYING until the next transfer window at least, that is in June next year. And then I will negotiate a new contract.
However, I haven't talked about the managerial rich list for a while. So top of the list is Antonio Conte at Inter earning 350k pounds per week. Second on the list is Jose Mourinho at Tottenham earning 300k pounds per week. And third on the list is Diego Simeone at Manchester City earning 185k pounds per week. At Inter, last season Conte won the league, got knocked out in the Champions League group stage and won the Italian Cup against Juventus in the final. Last season, Spurs under Mourinho finished 6th in the league, lost in the Champions League quarter final by Manchester City and got knocked out in the fourth round both in the Carabao Cup against Watford and then the FA Cup against Burnley. Simeone at Manchester City last season won the league, lost the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool, got knocked out in the quarter final of the FA Cup against Chelsea and lost the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Mohd Shukri Rosli has come in on loan from Johor DT, he has extended his loan at Selangor. Also Abdul Aziz Rahim went back to Kedah after his loan spell got over. We got Rudi Effendi coming in on a free transfer from Barito Putra in Indonesia. He will join in January next year.
