Remember me? (The Malay Mail)

DEFENDER K. Ramachandran, Kuala Lumpur's longest serving player, is left
wondering if he should have moved along when the offers came along.
 And he has had ample time to regret as the season has been almost all
idle hours spent away from the pitch.
 Ramachandran, who turns 26 on Oct 17, is in his sixth season with KL and
is just about left pleading for a fair chance to fight for a place in the
team.
 His nightmare started at the beginning of the season when he was
stripped of the skipper's band after two seasons.
 He was accused of leading a boycott of former KL coach Chow Kwai Lam's
training to take up the team's grouses with KLFA president Datuk Seri
Megat Junid Megat Ayub.
 This was just after KL's 5-1 hammering by Kedah in the season's opening
match in Alor Star.
 Then injury put him out for a big part of the League with Mat Zan Mat
Aris taking over as coach and KL going 11 matches unbeaten.
 Youngster M. Karunakaran, who stepped into Ramachandran's position, has
done well to keep his place.
 And with Azlan Hussein back from the Olympic 2000 squad, there is
further competition in the backline.
 Karunakaran and Abdul Ghani Malik are Mat Zan's first choice stoppers
with P. Saravanan playing sweeper.
 "I am not worried of the competition in the team. I like it better when
the competition is keener as everyone has to work for his place," said
Ramachandran, a product of the KLFA youth development programmes.
 "But, somehow, I get the feeling I am not wanted and that hurts because
I have always been loyal to KL," said the Taiping-born Ramachandran.
 Ramachandran stuck with KL even when they failed to qualify for the
Malaysia Cup competition for four consecutive years.
 And it was during this period that he had offers from Selangor, Negri
Sembilan and Perak.
 He turned them all down, even some lucrative ones during those years of
conspicuous consumption, as he felt indebted to KLFA.
 With his experience and maturity, Ramachandran should be a mainstay of
the team but he is not even among the KL reserves for tomorrow night's
opening Malaysia Cup match against Terengganu.
 But Ramachandran is not giving up without a fight.
 "As long as I am in the squad, there is hope. I am going to train even
harder to get my chance to play - even if for a few minutes.
 "I still have a great deal to offer to the team," said Ramachandran who
has two FA Cup medals with KL from 1993 and 1994.
 "But if my best effort is not good enough for the team, I would have to
move along.
 "Maybe I will get the chance to prove myself all over again, maybe I
will not. But it would not be because of a lack of effort on my part,"
said Ramachandran.
 Mat Zan is using younger players in his line-up.
 The older players like Liew Kim Tu, Tan Cheng Hoe, Nazim Din, Amiruddin
Ahmad and Zefus Othman have all been reduced to reserves.
 The competition is keen with the youngsters wanting to establish
themselves and the seniors wanting to reassert themselves.
 Mat Zan is certainly in a good position as all the competition for team
places brings out the best in the players.
                                 (END)