Tunku Mahkota Johor (TMJ), Tunku Ismail Idris ibni Sultan Ibrahim, is clearing the air on the rumour claiming that he had proposed the manager of KL City FC, Bojan Hodak, to replace Tan Cheng Hoe as the new Head Coach for the Harimau Malaya football squad.
The rumour started after Hairuddin Omar revealed on his Facebook that TMJ previously shared his preferred candidate to lead the national squad. He was asked by the former national squad player on who he would appoint if given the opportunity to manage the national team.
“He chose Bojan (Hodak) to be the head coach,” Hairuddin claimed on his FB, before adding, “(Then) I asked, ‘Why Bojan, since he was previously fired from the coaching staff of JDT (Johor Darul Ta’zim FC)?’ His answer was, ‘In JDT they have their own ‘philosophy of play’. And Bojan’s pattern of play was not in line with the applied philosophy.”
The 42-year-old former athlete continued by writing, “But for the national team, he feels Bojan is more suitable because there are some aspects that the national team will succeed and grow under his management.” Hairuddin then came up with a list of four reasons on why TMJ felt that the Croatian football manager is suitable to take over Tan Cheng Hoe’s position (which you can see in his post above).
In response, TMJ later took to his Instagram Story to put the circulating rumours surrounding Hairuddin’s previous statement to rest. The Johor royalty clarified, “Not true! I have nothing to do with the national team and I have no opinion (on the matter). For now, my focus is on helping the flood victims as well as preparing for the flood disaster in Johor. Thank you.”
Tan Cheng Hoe’s status as the current Harimau Malaya’s Head Coach remains uncertain for now, especially following the failure of the national team to advance to the next round of AFF Suzuki Cup 2020. During this past weekend’s group stage, Malaysia lost to Indonesia in a 4-1 score.
Sources: Oh Media, Semua Bola, VOCKET FC.
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