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PETALING JAYA: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) prefer to keep mum regarding speculation that Australian football legend Tim Cahill could be part of a special unit that the governing body plans to set up.
FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman neither confirmed nor denied the matter when asked.
“No comment, let’s wait,” was his brief reply when met at the launch of the “Kopi Pablo Dollah”, which is owned by national football legend Dollah Salleh today.
Many had previously speculated that the former Everton midfielder would be involved in the process of revamping the Harimau Malaya squad with the special unit, which is aimed specifically at monitoring the performance and management of the national football team.
This came about when a photograph of Cahill posing with the Regent of Johor Tunku Mahkota Ismail, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) chief executive officer Alistair Edwards was uploaded on Facebook in August.
Besides being an icon and ambassador of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Cahill currently serves as chief sports officer at Aspire Academy and as the technical director for the Qatar Football Association.
Elaborating, Noor Azman said an announcement on the special unit would be made next month.
FAM deputy president Yusoff Mahadi recently confirmed that the governing body will not privatise the Harimau Malaya squad but instead create a new unit to monitor the performance and manage the senior and Under-23 national squads.
He was quoted as saying that the reason for creating the unit is, among others, to take care of the welfare and performance of national players.
He added that Tunku Mahkota Ismail mooted the idea of setting up the unit during a meeting with the prime minister.