Surfeit Of Potential
The Farmer Bunnies' production line continued trundling on, as 17 year-old defensive midfielder Lin Chang How found a place with Spanish Division Eight club RCD Rastamotxos Surfeiros, gaining the honour of being the first signing. He was joined by Nontas Tipou and Chris Day, both from Australia's Enfield Federals.
As with other recent Bunnies trainees, Lin was popular in the market, with another Spanish side in RCD Drinkteam!!, as well as URCadima (Portuguese Division Six) and Al-Sha'ab Hadramaut (Yemeni Division Three) entering the late stages of negotiations. Still, local Division Two side Tampines Phoenix F.C. were the obvious destination, and it was slightly surprising that Lin turned them down for Surfeiros' S$16000 offer.
The usually-disciplined if sometimes over-passionate Lin explained the choice as having been made for more-guaranteed league playing time. "I'm flattered by Phoenix's interest, but from the age distribution of their senior squad, I wasn't sure how I would fit in."
Chicken wings junior Phua Liang Soon, who hailed from the same high school as Lin, made sure to congratulate his pal as he was interviewed for his double against Moldovan opponents Academia Sperantelor False. "The boys at Bartley are all happy for him. Remember us!"
As for Grilled International's Phillip Magallanes, he would arrive at Ang Mo Kio fourth division club globersOss, who had evidently hoped to pair him up with Lin. Despite that falling through, the spiky-haired playmaker remains determined to make an impact in Singapore.
"Head coach Bakri Mohd Azim has a good system in mind." the excited free transfer said. "I think we can all flourish in it."
