The Acting President of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) Bernard Tan will have his wish come true in a little less than a month’s time as he ascends to the top of the local football throne officially.
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At the close of nominations for the role of President on 31 August, only Tan’s nomination was received by the football body for the role.
There were suggestions over the last two months that a challenger would surface to take Tan on, but these did not materialise.
The eligibility criteria also restricts the choice of candidates who can stand for elections.
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Whether it ends up as a blessing or a curse for the game will be an answer the fraternity concludes in two years, as his term would end in 2025, when the next round of elections for office bearers takes place.
In a statement, the FAS said that the next step would be for the Electoral Committee to conduct the eligibility and integrity checks on the nominated candidate.
This would be a mere formality for Tan, given that he has been in the Acting position since the passing of former President Lim Kia Tong.
Tan has been the deputy president of the FAS since 2017, and was parachuted in to the FAS as a vice-president since 2013.
He has also served on the board of Sport Singapore previously and is currently on the board of the Singapore Sports School.
Tan’s colours have been revealed quite clearly over the last year and some of his antics have not gone down too well with the public.
For example, he created an online storm following the Southeast Asian Games debacle where he challenged a netizen to meet him “face to face” on Instagram.
He apologised and then set his Instagram account to private.
TMSG has previously made it clear why he was a mistake for Singapore football.
For now, Tan will have two years to prove his capabilities, and to ensure he works closely with the administrators of the Unleash The Roar project, which will include privatisation of the local league, which is already overdue based on the plans released by the Government in 2021.
At the Congress where his presidency is confirmed, he should set himself key performance indicators which he will be judged on at the end of the two-year term.
Among of which should include having the national team make the semi-finals of the biennial Mitsubishi Electric Cup in 2024, pushing through the commercialisation of the league, having the Young Lions not finish at the bottom of the Singapore Premier League in 2024 or disband them altogether, and raising up to $5 million in sponsorship cash for the FAS so that the association can hire a national coach with pedigree to lead a football revolution.
Anything less would be deemed a failure.
MAIN PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER
