Fitting tribute (The Malay Mail)

SABAH'S Kelly Tham must be the longest-serving soccer coach with a State
team, apart from Terengganu's Abdullah Mohamad, and as such, winning the
FA Cup will definitely be a fitting tribute to him.
 Tham, 46, is indeed looking forward to winning the FA Cup on his third
consecutive attempt.
 "It is not so much for me, but for the people of Sabah who have stood
behind me all this while," said Tham, who earned his FAM advanced coaching
certificate in 1978 under Karl Weigang.
 "Steering the team to their third straight final is an achievement by
itself but nothing will be sweeter than winning.
 "Besides, I feel this year is my best chance to win it because we have
improved over the last two years and learnt from our mistakes.
 "We also have a strengthened team with the acquisition of some calibre
players such as goalkeeper Khairul Azman Mohamad and midfielders Ong Kim
Swee and Yap Wai Loon.
 "This squad are much more balanced and have depth."
 Tham started his association with the Sabah team in 1989 as an assistant
coach to Englishman Frank Upton.
 Since then, he has been assistant to another Englishman, Roy Lorrenson,
in 1990 and to Oldrich Sedlacek for two seasons (1991 and 1992)
 It was in 1993 that he took over as chief coach and steered Sabah to
their first FA Cup final - in fact their first ever final in a tournament.
 That year Kuala Lumpur beat them 2-1 and last year, Sabah were again at
Merdeka Stadium for their second final but only to lose 3-1 to KL in
extratime.
 Asked about his formula of success, Tham said it was a joint effort of
everyone in the Sabah FA.
 "It is a team effort. All of us play our roles - from the officials,
coaches, players to the kitman."
 On his team's chances tomorrow, Tham said with due respect to Pahang,
Sabah badly want the Cup this time.
 "We have worked very hard for it and feel we have qualified for the
final this time around playing tougher matches against teams like Kelantan
and Selangor," said Tham.
 "The first year, we qualified for the FA Cup final, we were
inexperienced. The second time, we had the misfortune of playing three
extra matches to break the deadlock and when the final went into
extratime, we were a spent force.
 "But this time around, everything is looking well for us, including
having a full squad.
 "It is a case of now or never for us when we step onto the field on
Saturday."
 Tham added that despite his players glowing with confidence, they are
also all fired up to make up for the disappointment of not being able to
play the final in Kota Kinabalu.
 "The players are quite upset that the final could not be staged in Kota
Kinabalu because we would be playing our third consecutive final.
 "Even more so, they wanted to play a final in front of their home crowd.
 "Unlike other States, except for Sarawak, we cannot get our fans in full
force to Merdeka Stadium because of distance and cost.
 "However, the players are all fired up to win this Cup for the people."
 Another reason for Tham's success is his great relationship with his
players.
 He is like a big brother to all the players and Tham - who hails from
Kota Belud - speaks Kadazan and Bajau (local dialects), Chinese, English
and Bahasa Malaysia.
 Besides his multi-lingual ability, Tham also understands the players
well and this close relationship has certainly played a big role in his
able running of the team.
 Tham fondly remembers his appointment as chief coach of Sabah two years
ago by having 93 as his Proton Saga car registration number.
 Maybe after tomorrow night's final, he might consider changing it to 95!
                              (END)