Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: Justin Ganai has been relieved of his duty as Sabah Super League head coach with immediate effect.
The coach whose job was on the line for the past few months seems to have finally paid the price after the heavy defeat to the Lions XII last Saturday.
A meeting will be held today (Tuesday) at 10am to decide who will lead the team for the match against PKNS tonight.
In a Press Conference chaired by Sabah FA Vice President I Datuk Osman Jamal on Monday evening, he said the Sabah FA President Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and the supreme council had reviewed the performance of the team lately and had agreed that changes need to be done
"Winning or losing is part of the game. We all can accept defeat but not with a scoreline like we did against Lions XII. That really saddened us," he said.
"Furthermore there are no more financial issues and all the players who have been paid to do their job in carrying out the State mission also received their salaries and bonuses on time."
"And with the shameful defeat and also the third loss in a row for Sabah, the FA have made the decision to rest our current coach.
This is to ensure that the team can regroup in terms of their mental and physical aspect. More importantly the team needs to get the right tactic and strategy in future matches which unfortunately is lacking at the moment."
Osman also disclosed that a well respected coach is on the shortlist to take over the hot seat.
"I will have a meeting with this person on June 21 in Kuala Lumpur.
If everything goes well and this very experienced coach agrees to come to Sabah and work with us to raise the standard of our team, then the management will announce his appointment in due course."
Osman urged the players not to be affected by the latest decision and take it as a new beginning.
"I want them to believe in themselves and gain back their confidence as I believe these players are capable of great things based on their performance against the national team as well as the first round match against Lions XII."
He also called on the fans to understand the situation with the team's poor performances of late.
"We promise with the current players we will raise our bar.
Our target now is not to be relegated and the issues concerning players will not be repeated in future."
Meanwhile, Justin is likely to be transferred to the development side.
The coach who steered Sabah out of relegation last season has won praise from Osman.
He said Justin as a Sabahan had done a wonderful job for the Sabah FA over the years.
And he strongly believes Justin can still contribute in the development of the sport for the association.
Osman also said they will also enlist former football greats such as James Wong, Hassan Sani and Peter Rajah to help the association.
"We will definitely approach them in the not too long future."
