New Sabah Times
KOTA KINABALU: Ken Shellito and Scott Ollerenshaw have offered their services to help get the ailing Sabah out of troubled waters.
They volunteered themselves to take charge of the team for the remainder of their Super League fixtures or until the Sabah FA found their man to replace head coach Justin Ganai, who was removed from the post on Monday.
A reliable source told the New Sabah Times Sports that, in fact, both Ken and Scott had expressed their intention to lead the team to someone within the association.
And now the ball is in the FA’s court to decide what is best for the team.
At the moment, assistant coach Andrew Majanggim is taking charge of the State squad, who faced Kelantan last night.
The source, who prefers anonymity, added that both Ken and Scott are sincere in trying to help the team.
“They are not even asking for any payment. They will do it for free simply because they love the Sabah team, and they, like any other Sabahan are also sad and disappointed with the predicaments that the team is facing at the moment,” said the source.
“What they want to see is for Sabah to avoid relegation. They believe they can reorganise the team and bring in new ideas, and are determined to lift the morale of the players,” he added.
For the record, the FA is currently in talks with one or two coaches from Peninsular Malaysia.
However, they have yet to get the man to lead the team (at press time).
But with Ken and Scott voluntarily offering their services, it will give the FA a new alternative.
The source, who is close to both men, said Ken and Scott are willing to work hand in hand in finding the right solution to stop the rot.
Both Ken and Scott are no strangers to the State football scene.
Englishman Ken was a former Technical Director of Football for the FA in the late 90s, and has been around long enough to know the State players inside and out.
Besides being a Technical Director of Football, Ken also had a brief spell with the State senior squad.
And it was during his reign that Md Reithudin Awang Emran made his senior debut in early 2000.
Then Ken braved himself to play the young Reithuddin at the heart of the Sabah defence in the absence of the suspended Veselin Kovacevic.
During his heyday, Ken, who is married to a local from Penampang, played for Chelsea, as well as England before injury forced him out from the game before going into coaching.
Besides Sabah, Ken has also coached a few teams in the Peninsula.
His recent attachment was with the Asian Football Confederation.
On the other hand, Scott needs no introduction.
He was the idol of Sabah football during the mid 90s. It was during his time that Sabah emerged as the top team in the country, including winning the then Premier League crown (now known as Super League) in 1996.
While donning Sabah colours, the former Rhino hotshot also won the Golden Boot award twice.
Like Ken, Scott is also married to a local, in former Sabah karate queen Michelle Koh.
Scott has been doing his bit in the development of the game for a few years now by organising the KK Junior Football League where 24 teams are currently competing in the League, which has three age-group categories, with each category attracting eight teams.
