Former sports reporter Amanpreet Singh penned the following thoughts (in green text) on Facebook shortly after Albirex Niigata (Singapore) succumbed to
their sixth defeat of the campaign to Tanjong Pagar United on 12th July 2024.
Albirex Niigata (S) under Kazuaki Yoshinaga in his previous 4 league seasons in charge (2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023): 7 losses in TOTAL.
Albirex Niigata (S) so far this season: 6 losses.
Yoshinaga is not the problem. In fact, he is the least of the problems. If you want him sacked, then you have very limited knowledge about the challenges in Singapore football. Sacking him will not solve anything. There is also no other coach (local or foreign) who knows the club better than him. Do you think hiring another coach will result in an immediate upturn in results for Albirex? It will not. In fact, things will, in all likelihood, get worse.
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| Coach Yoshinaga made a sad exit from Singapore football |
Let’s not forget that Yoshinaga has won the league title in every single one of his seasons with Albirex and is the most successful coach in league history, together with Richard Bok. He is a winner and knows what is required for success. He has revolutionised football in this country and many other local coaches have learnt from his methods and approaches. Any local player (who has the correct mindset and wants to grow) would relish to play under him.
When I was a journalist, I sat in for many of his press conferences. He never spoke about personal pride or his achievements, he always spoke about wanting to help Singapore football improve and to increase its level. He said this every single time, even when Albirex used to win matches by huge margins. He was never fully satisfied with any win or result and always wanted his team to keep improving.
I hope people will respect what he has achieved, rather than ask for him to be sacked or question if he is the right person to take Albirex forward, especially if they are unable to provide any realistic solution.
(P.S: Hours later after the publication of the abovementioned social media post, the defending Singapore Premier League champions and the multi-time Coach of The Year recipient parted ways on mutual consent.)ABOUT THE WRITER
Amanpreet Singh is a former sports reporter with TODAY. During his one-year stint from 2015 to 2016, he wrote close to 330 articles, mainly about Singapore football, with a number of exclusives, including the news that former England international Jermaine Pennant was set to sign for Tampines Rovers and that V Sundram Moorthy was set to be appointed as the national team head coach.
- Permission was granted by Mr Amanpreet Singh to reproduce his Facebook post for this blog post
- Opinions expressed may not be those of the blog owner
- The copyright of this article (in green text except pictures) belongs to Mr Amanpreet Singh
