Grand Pa Waits till April to Play in Malaysian Top Flight


Moody Liberian striker Francis Forkay Doe who recently signed with Malaysian top flight 2011 runner-up Terengganu will have to wait till this April to play in the national league due to wrong communication from the the Malaysian Football Association (MFA) on the deadline of foreign players registration.

According to report, in a circular dated December 23, the club thought they had the FA of Malaysia permission to Liberian import Francis Forkay Doe and the Brazilian Erison Da Silva Santos, but in the end, it was realized that the deadline for foreign players registration had not been extended as the December 8 deadline remained the same. Thus, the duo of Doe and Santos will ahve to wait till April to make their season debut but could still be used in the Asian Football Cup (AFC).

Reports from Malaysia has infuriated the club as they blame the MFA for careless administration of the game and are now licking their wounds. Francis Doe who parted company with Egyptian giant club Al-Ahly last season after becoming a fringe member of the squad mainly due to the arrival of Mauritanian import Dominic Da Silva recently moved to Malaysian club Terangganu in his quest to move on with his career. Below is a text from a section of the Malaysian media on the Doe and Santos registration misery.
Terengganu pay for FAM’s mistake

If it is too good to be true, it probably is.

That was what happened to Terengganu who thought they had the FA of Malaysia’s (FAM) permission to sign two foreign players for the Super League, based on the national body’s circular dated Dec 23.

They went ahead and signed up Liberian striker Francis Doe Forkey and Brazilian midfielder Erison Da Silva Santos on Tuesday, thinking that the closing date for foreign players’ registration had been extended until this coming Monday.

As it turned out, there were mistakes in the circular and the stated Monday deadline was supposed to be for the AFC Cup and Dec 8 remained the last date to register imported players for the Malaysian League.

According to the circular, Kelantan were allowed to register a maximum of two foreign players for the domestic league before yesterday while Terengganu will have until Monday to do the same.

Terengganu FA president Datuk Che Mat Jusoh said the FAM had since apologized for the mistake but claimed it was of no comfort to the state association.

“It is easy to say sorry but the damage has been done and we now have in our possession two players who will play no part in the Super League at least until April when the transfer window will be opened again.

“Those in the FAM should not have made the mistake in the first place and given us false hopes as we had no reason to doubt the contents in the cicular,” he said.

Che Mat, who is also the team manager, said the mistakes in the circular had cost Terengganu time, money and other resources.

“But as one of the FAM affiliates, there is nothing we can do and we have no choice but to accept the apology and go on as if these things never happened.
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“At the moment, we are still contemplating our next move with regard to the two players as we are also unsure if we want to keep them just to play in the AFC Cup which is scheduled to start in March,” he said. By Zainuddin Muhammad.


Read more: Terengganu pay for FAM’s mistake - Soccer - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/soccer/terengganu-pay-for-fam-s-mistake-1.28876#ixzz1j769kuUW