Johann's New Story
Grilled Birds boss
Dan Alstani would not waste any time in replacing Aw Keng Chuan with the Singapore Cup in mind, as he brought in former Swiss international star
Johann Schwietzer for S$6.9 million. The 33 year-old had been regarded as something of a maverick savant with hometown club Chamäleons, where he earned a national youth cap - and three senior ones - despite the Zürich club never making it past Division Five in his time there, if hardly through any fault of his own.
There was utter uproar when he was sold on to current Spanish Primera club and defending Copa de España winners Dandy de Tazmania 2 at thirty years of age, but the more reasonable amongst the Chamäleons fanbase had to admit that it was now or never for Schwietzer to get some silverware. He would indeed help Dandy to promote to the second division in his two short months there, before joining Iranian League Bartar side Arash Resaneh for nearly S$12 million. Alas, Arash Resaneh would finish as runners-up for both his seasons there, and a poor run of games has had incoming Slovenian head coach Tadej Repa place him on the transfer list.
Schwietzer's quality was never questioned for that, and his availability had a host of clubs make offers, most prominently among them MAGICO EMPOLI! (Italian Division Four), Sun Set Park (Latvian Division Three), Dynamo Bucureşti (Romanian Divison Three), Giallo Neri (Polish Division Four), Fight4Rights (Italian Division Five) and Pantufla B (Guinea Championnat National). It was however Basel-based VII.403 leaders chelski fc who were the most bent on bringing him back to Switzerland, but the lure of a possible national cup had Schwietzer sign on with the Birds.
"We have had some great defenders here in our time, but as a ball-playing libero, I'm not sure The Cooking Pot has seen his equal." Alstani declared, whilst holding up a freshly-printed Number Four jersey together with the newcomer. "I'm sure we're all looking forward to seeing Johann play!"
Club sources revealed that Grilled's scouting department had been working on overdrive, and had identified several possibilities, including former Brunei U-20 star Hairi bin Hj Dani from The PatDevils, Schwietzer's teammate at Arash Resaneh, the Indian distributor Shailendra Ambedkar, as well as Japanese free-kick specialist Akira Endo from New Dainville Rogues LSFC. Alstani hastened to emphasize that Schwietzer had been his first choice. "Tackling, pushing forward, football smarts... he has it all."
Some chapters would end today too, with a host of prospects being released from the Grilled clubs: Darell Takemoto, Josh Hwang, Aryan Kapoor, Tan Yong De and Lin Tong Guang from the Birds; Idris Azib, Hwang Wee An, Russell Pham and Chua Min Guang from Farmer Bunnies; and Abdilah bin Hj Suni, Xue Shihui, Shaminan bin Hj Mohd Kamarul, Saiful bin Mohammad and Zainul bin Naasiruddeen from Grilled International.
"It was a bridge too far." trainee goalkeeper Chua concluded. "But there are no regrets for me."
