The Singapore Premier League (SPL) will lose one of its better coaches as Balestier Khalsa’s Peter de Roo has announced his exit from the club after the current season ends.
In an interview published in The Straits Times, he shared his frustration at the pace of football development and progress in Singapore.
“During my time here, I have studied the history of the country.
“Look at where Singapore was then in the 60s or in the 70s, and where they are now.
“You’re so good at planning and building so many things.
“So to me, it is weird that we can’t get football organised.
“If you can transfer that mindset of how the nation was built into football, things will improve.”
In his interview with ST, he said that his decision was made based on a few factors.
LIMITED RESOURCES, MAXIMUM POTENTIAL
One of it was the difficulty in taking the next step at a club that had reached its maximum potential with “limited resources”.
He said: “We compete with clubs who have a much higher budget than us and in the top four, we are the only club that doesn’t have national team players.
“When you are successful in a club like Balestier, the budget is not going to improve in the next season, but the players want to earn more money and the expectations go up.
“To stay at the same level or even improve in terms of the results, is going to be a massive challenge.
“Where I come from, if you do well, you generate more income, there are more people watching, you get more money from broadcast and commercial arms to improve the team and the salaries of players.
“Simply, if you do well, the budget goes up. At Balestier, it is not like that. I must accept that.”
THE DARWIN JALIL FACTOR
Another reason for his departure was the earlier exit of former vice-chairman Darwin Jalil, who left in April as he was aiming to stand for elections to gain control of the leadership of the FAS.
The 55-year-old Dutchman said that Darwin’s exit was a factor given that the club had grown over the last two years due to the effort put in by Darwin, who brought him on board after the departure of Akbar Nawas.
TAKING AIM AT FAS
Among the reasons for his departure was the lack of effort and innovation by the football authorities, and we assume he means the Football Association of Singapore.
“I’ve been part of the SPL for three years and what I noticed is that there is a lack of effort from the people (in charge) in trying to make it better and more attractive.
“I see a lot of people who take things for granted here and are too comfortable,” said de Roo.
He raised the example of time-wasting by SPL teams which had contributed to dull matches.
“It is disrespectful to people who watch it, and it’s certainly not what young players should be seeing.
“FAS can do a lot about these things as well.
“We must do better, and we owe it to the people who watch our games to address these things,” he said.
He added that there was a need to try and encourage and to promote to make the competitions better.
“But I get the feeling that everybody is sort of being comfortable,” he shot.
“Being comfortable isn’t going to lead to anything. They need to think outside the box.”
Let’s see if Yusri Umar from the Competitions departments sends de Roo a letter which demands an explanation over his remarks about the performance of the FAS and its competitions.
MAIN PHOTO: SPL