New Hopes for S’pore Footie

Did u know this?

One Gavin Lee from Tampines Rovers played a big part in developing Ben Davis, the Fulham player that Mindef implicitly called a NS dodger even before his call-up date.

Ben Davis recently became the first Singaporean to sign a professional contract with an English Premier League club by signing for Fulham FC.

While much of the news has been about his application for deferment, it is worth remembering that this was a player who was largely developed in Singapore.

Ben Davis’ formative years in football were spent at the JSSL academy in Singapore and one of the coaches responsible for his development was current Tampines Rovers assistant coach, Gavin Lee.

Despite his young age, Gavin has years of experience and is also tBen Davis recently became the first Singaporean to sign a professional contract with an English Premier League club by signing for Fulham FC.

While much of the news has been about his application for deferment, it is worth remembering that this was a player who was largely developed in Singapore.

Ben Davis’ formative years in football were spent at the JSSL academy in Singapore and one of the coaches responsible for his development was current Tampines Rovers assistant coach, Gavin Lee.

Despite his young age, Gavin has years of experience and is also tpioneer of JSSL’s elite academy which identifies and develops JSSL’s best players separately.

Players from this academy have gone on to become youth internationals and some others have either received training invitations or have signed with clubs overseas.

Gavin carefully designs the curriculum for the various teams in JSSL’s elite academy based on the players’ differing stages of development and maturity ensuring that they get optimal training to bring the best out of them.

In addition to thrice-weekly training sessions, Gavin tailor makes weekly handouts filled with tactical and technical information for the different age groups and supplements these handouts with video examples to help the players understand the various skills and tactics involved in the game.

By adapting his programmes to the players’ needs and understanding at various ages, Gavin ensures that he gets the best out of players.

His track record at youth level thus shows that with the right development plans in place, we can produce more players like Ben Davis.

This again is another example that the FAS can learn from in terms of devising and tailoring programmes to bring out the best in our youth footballers.

https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/lessons-youth-development-singapore-football

The author of above

Sudhershen Hariram is a lawyer with Tan Rajah & Cheah and played for Tanjong Pagar United FC in the S League from 2011 to 2012.

Nice to know S League player has the brains to be a lawyer.

When MU nexts meets Sity

Before next derby match againt Sity, MU’s African players should ask to be allowed to sacrifice an ox for luck. Against Sity MU needs all the luck it can get. Sity has Allah cheering it on.

Egypt football champions sacrifice ox for luck

After losing one match and drawing another, staff at Al Ahly in Egypt have sacrificed an ox and distributed the meat to the poor in the hope that it will reverse their fortunes.

The defending champions suffered their first league loss since June 2016 when they finished 3-2 away to Misr Al Makassa earlier this month.

Last Friday, they drew 1-1 with hosts Tanta.

Al Ahly are currently third in the Egyptian Premier League after 11 games – they are four points behind the leaders Ismaili who have played two more matches than Al Ahly so far.

BBC report

Maybe Everton did this? It has lots of Players from Africa, had a string of bad results but juz won 3-1.

 

Another reason for GE in 2016, not 2015?

The rising cost of EPL footie starting in 2016-2017 season and the PAP’s wooing of the EPL fans?

Let me explain.

British broadcasters will be paying an average of £10.2m per EPL match from the 2016-17 season.

The 70% increase announced by the Premier League in the value of its UK television rights means that prices for int’l rights will rise again. Interestingly the last time (3 yrs) ago, when the UK rights were tendered, the rise was 70%.

Sky is paying an average of £10.8m for each of the 126 Premier League games it will broadcast each season from 2016-17 until 2018-19, and BT will pay around £7.6m for each of its 42 matches, BBC

So doubtless Singtel will over-bid again and blame the int’l market prices.

So more will flock to the PA centres (including the cybernuts who curse the PAP online: after all how can born-losers with a sense of entitlement afford to watch at home or the pub or the coffee shop when prices go up further?) where EPL matches are screened when the 2016-2017:begins. I’m assuming  SingTel will do the right thing and extend, enlarge the present arrangement of screening EPL games.

So a publicity campaign telling the masses about the free EPL footie in the PA centres in early 2016 for the next season should help the PAP connect with the EPL fans: the PAP cares for EPL fans.

 

BBC on EPL signings to watch etc

Which summer signing will make the biggest impact in the Premier League this season? Who will be a top-flight turkey?

The recruitment campaign is well under way with already more than £100m spent by English football’s elite – most of it on players from outside the United Kingdom.

There are still two weeks remaining before the transfer window closes, but, with the help of our European football analysts, we look at some of those who have arrived early and will be seeking to establish themselves in football’s richest league.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23575418

The economics of being a city with an EPL team

After Swansea’s success in reaching the Premier League Cardiff University research claimed the club’s first season alone was worth £58m to the economy.

The Swans being in the top flight also created or protected around 400 jobs, according to the report.

…two students from different African countries who said they had chosen Swansea as a university because the city had a Premier League club.

…One of the biggest beneficiaries of the club’s promotion in 2011 into the Premier League has been the service industry – hotels, restaurants and bars.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23665870

The Economist “moneyballs” the English Premier League

Try “moneyballing” your own team by selecting a squad with similar attributes to those of Manchester United, at a fraction of the cost.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/08/data-driven-football

And don’t think badly of Rooney’s behaviour. What it shows is that his loyalty lies with Everton. After he moved to MU, an Everton fan told me that after any MU match, he would check how Everton did or was doing, if it had a match. He had to move on from Everton to improve his skills, earn more $ and win trophies. But his heart is always with Everton. A true blue fan.