THE bigger the brand, the bigger the spotlight directed at it. Just look at how every move of Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is scrutinised despite the team faring better in the on-going Premier League than under its predecessors ─ Jose Mourinho, Mikel Arteta or even last year's winner, Jurgen Klopp.
It's simply because such news sells better, or perhaps, it’s an indirect consequence of success over the years.
That seems to be case as well for Johor Darul Ta'zim FC (JDT) in Malaysian football ─ the club seems to be getting drawn into just about every issue and every situation it finds itself in is analysed to great effect.
This month, JDT was even dragged into conversations about unpaid salaries despite not having a single salary issue since their establishment in 2013.
It's quite amusing to find fingers pointed at JDT when salaries go unpaid at other clubs. The common grouse directed at JDT is that it inflates the market but then again, you don't hear German clubs bickering about Bayern Munich's spending now, do you?
Instead of breaking the bank to match Bayern, teams in Germany spend within their means and have realistic expectations unlike Malaysia where many clubs spend beyond their means.
If that’s the case, then the best talents will undoubtedly play for JDT, right?
Well, that would seem to be the case, considering the fact that the Southern Tigers have the most complete football eco-system in the country, but it's really a question of whether JDT wants to sign up a player instead of whether a player wants to play for them or not ─ teams are not obliged to offer high salaries to players not signed by JDT.
Won’t this result in the league being uncompetitive and for fans to shy away? Well, German clubs don't seem to have a problem attracting fans to stadiums so is fan attendance in Malaysia driven purely by success and entertainment value?
Calls for a salary cap have resurfaced once more but although Malaysian football has worked around this in the past, its implementation will cripple JDT's AFC Champions League aspirations, which isn’t right because JDT should not be penalised for the financial mismanagement of other teams.
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Another area that has been widely debated are refereeing decisions and a perceived bias towards JDT.
Referee errors are made on a regular basis in matches yet when a decision is made that favours JDT, the entire action is blown out of proportion. Even legitimate penalty decisions are questioned despite replays clearly displaying an infringement.
For instance, a referee's decision to award JDT a last-minute penalty against Perak was questioned despite it being a handball but there didn’t seem to be a problem when Arif Aiman was brought down in the box or when Bergson Da Silva had a goal disallowed.
It didn’t make the national news when Selangor had a goal that was deemed valid despite it being offside nor when PJ City committed 20 fouls against JDT the past weekend only to have the referee brandish two yellow cards when some of those infringements were more deserving of a red card; all hell would have broken lose had the tables been turned.
JDT were even labelled 'Perosak Bolasepak Negara' by certain quarters.
Seriously, JDT is the only team in the country without salary issues for the past 8 years; the only team to contribute significantly to Malaysia's AFC member association ranking; the only ream to have facilities that meet international standards; the only team to garner international exposure for Malaysian football on a regular basis and the only team to have a clearly outlined development programme. ─ The Vibes, 14 April, 2021
Former journalist Vijhay is Head of Content at Johor Darul Ta'zim FC following stints with Malay Mail, Sports247.my, FourFourTwo Malaysia and FOX Malaysia. You may have also heard him on BFM Football or watched him on Media Prima's football programmes. Vijhay can be reached at @vijhayvick on Twitter.
