Mass Exodus
Two trainees would leave to begin their footballing careers, while many others were released, as the Grilled clubs reconsidered their personnel needs for the upcoming seasons.
From the Bunnies, just-turned-seventeen Azman Abas signed for Romanian Division Six outfit Efi-Dia Team, for a consideration of S$30000. Exceedingly well-rounded, Azman had proven serviceable in all outfield positions with the Rancher Rabbits, but has expressed a preference for attacking roles.
Efi-Dia's main competitors for Azman were Indonesian fourth division side kutu_kampret team, who were after him as a complement to newly-signed youngsters Antti Castrén and Nima Arjmandzadeh. Beluga Haze (Danish Division Six), FC LÄHTIS (Finnish Division Six), Mabão F.C. (Brazilian Division Five), FC Scipix (Italian Division Four) and local City club Hattrick all e Time were all open to offering a contract.
Although HaeT weren't successful with their bid for Azman, they would snag Grilled Birds' Fong Kian Shi. A decent midfielder, Fong's development had been affected by his not-infrequent absence from the academy in the past year for outside reasons, but Chicken Wings scout Lim Hock Puay remains convinced that he has what it takes.
"All Fong needs is some support and a good run of games, and he'll make it up in no time. Hattrick all e Time have been recruiting heavily from top local clubs, so there should be no issues with fitting in."
As for player releases, 41 year-old Swiss defender
Gene Filippone announced his retirement after fourteen full seasons at the Birds. He will be joined by utility man
Chong Tse Chu, who will be seeking opportunities in the O&G industry, and trainee Liu Kuan Chi, who is terminating his provisional contract. In contrast, 19 year-old homegrown forward
Yee Jian Hui has agreed to a permanent deal.
For Farmer Bunnies, current fourth-choice goalkeeper
Cheong Kong Ting will end a long and fruitful association with the club, at the age of forty. Fellow veterans
Gagan Shettar,
Edward Ong,
Li Min Pin and
Che Din Mohd Akram have also received their pink slips, with trainees Ong Kian Wen and Kenyon Asato following them out, as
Sikong Darong frees up squad space for their maiden Division Two campaign.
Grilled International's departures will include founding players
Shailendra Chatterjee and
Hj Rashid bin Hj Zainul, with Tan Kuan Woon from the more youthful set also sending in his notice. The verdict remains out on wingers Hj Syamsuri bin Hj Omar, Mohd Nasrul bin Hj Hairi and Mohd bin Hj Nabil, as head coach
Tajit bin Mohd hints at new additions.
Mohd Kamarul bin Hj Safari is set to transition to an assistant coaching role, by understudying Tajit.
"We're always looking to better ourselves, and with a constantly-improving engine and Fausto in such rich vein of form, it's not like a title challenge is completely out of the picture." Tajit explained. "It's no secret that we're lacking in defence, we'll see what can be done there."
