Former Liverpool, Arsenal and Tampines Rovers star Jermaine Pennant, in town for the Starhub Football Festival, has doubled down on his comments almost eight years ago when he said that even Lionel Messi would not have been able to save the-then S-League, now known as the Singapore Premier League.
He was speaking to The Sunday Times on the sidelines of the event at Our Tampines Hub.
He said that football needs to be treated like a business with proper investment.
“You look at all the big leagues – there is a lot of investment in the leagues to improve the squads, management, pitches, facilities, marketing and other services and products,” he said.
“These things cost money but it’s like a business – if you don’t invest in it, the business won’t grow.”
He also said that the state of football in Singapore and the rest of Singapore was “like night and day”.
“It can be like night and day, and it’s a shame because Singapore is a very modern and wealthy country.
“The infrastructure for everything else is amazing and top notch, so why not for league football because the basis is there for Singapore to be a very successful Asian nation,” he added.
He also said that the same applied for sports in general.
“It’s not just football, but sports in general, the Government or businesses need to get together to back sports in Singapore.”
But he did add that Singapore can get things right, if it wanted to, and pointed to a 2016 Asian Football Confederation Cup match held at the National Stadium against Selangor.
“That felt professional all round – from the stadium, the pitch, the environment and our performance as well,” he told The Sunday Times.
“It showed what Singapore football is capable of when it puts its mind and resources into it.”
But the state of the pitch at the time, as seen in the video, was atrocious though.
MAIN PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA
