Foul!

It is the worst bus crash the nation has ever seen. 37 killed, 16 injured after a bus plunged into a ravine near Genting Highlands on Wednesday. The Land Public Transport Commission pledges to investigate, find the cause of the accident, come up with preventive measure and penalise those responsible. But haven't we heard all of this before? In fact, it is business as usual at the Pekeliling bus terminal where the bus company operates while passengers remain oblivious to the fact they too could be a casualty if things remained the same. Read all this and more in The Malay Mail today. Meanwhile, Englishman Peter Butler - who quit as Kelantan and T-Team coach - has left Twitter too! It is unclear to why Peter decided to ditch the social media tool but many believe it had to with some ranting which later turned into a spat between several other Twitter handlers which stemmed from Lim Teong Kim's appointment as the football technical director under the National Sports Cou...

“Some players from Terengganu are going to enjoy stints in Europe...either England, Portugal or Holland.” Those were the words of T-Team coach Peter Butler ( pic ). This came about after the author contacted Butler just before appearing on Nadi Arena on Saturday regarding former SC Beira-Mar player Nazmi Faiz Mansor. SC Beira-Mar had, in an email, revealed that “ In the next season we will bring one or two players from Malaysia, who will be chosen by Peter Butler.” “Who told you?” was Butler’s first response when asked over the contents of the email by the Portugal club. “Look, clubs from England, Portugal...they call me all the time asking about talents in the country. “Honestly, the Malaysian players are a talented lot but talent alone is not enough to survive in Europe. They are still not strong enough and it will take some time before Malaysian players make it abroad,” he added. Nazmi Faiz Mansor courted controversy on and off the field with his su...

More Malaysian players to see action with SC Beira-Mar? That seems to be so after the author obtained confirmation from the club that they are working closely with T-Team coach Peter Butler to bring "one or two players" to play for the Portugal club next season. In an email to the author, SC Beira-Mar's Department of Communication representative Luis Viega said; "Regarding your questions about Nazmi Faiz (Mansor), initially we agreed a concession for six months, but then he asked to stay in Malaysia for personal reasons.  "Focus on what matters to us is that we remain very committed to help develop football in Malaysia and now we are working in contact with Peter Butler. In the next season we will bring one or two players from Malaysia, who will be chosen by Peter Butler." The email was in response to queries about Nazmi Faiz leaving the club despite it was earlier reported on the club's website that he will be released for only "six mon...

I bet those will be the words of Mat Zan Mat Aris ( pic ), Robert Scully and Nidzam Adha Yusoff. All three coaches were sacked prematurely for reasons best known by the respective FAs (Terengganu -Mat Zan; Penang - Robert; Perlis - Nidzam) last season. The matter was brought to the attention of the FA of Malaysia (FAM). The Player Status Committee decided that all three FAs will have to pay RM120,000 in compensation to the coaches. Committee chairman Takiyuddin Hassan said the FAs would have to pay the compensation within one month of receiving a letter or their annual grants will be deducted. This is the second blow for Terengganu after FAM had earlier decided that Peter Butler's termination by the Terengganu FA was "null and void" . Hopefully this will serve as a reminder to the state FAs not to take their employees for granted. Meanwhile, Ahmad Fakri Saarani joins the likes of Nazmi Faiz Mansor in plying his trade in Portugal. During a Press Conference a...

They were both penalised for speaking to the Press. Terengganu coach Peter Butler ( pic ) has been handed a six months suspension and RM4,000 fine for "issuing a statement to the media without the approval of the team management", as reported here . Earlier this year, Kelantan boss Annuar Musa was slapped with a similar gag by the FA of Malaysia. My article on Annuar Musa's suspension was highlighted by Yahoo! Malaysia . Butler claims he has not received anything in black and white from the Terengganu FA pertaining the decision. Even Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said told Bernama he has not received any report about the matter and will "resolve this matter his own way". Apparently, it is widely known that Ahmad has been rather "supportive" towards Butler's cause. However, Butler is not exactly a popular figure - on and off the training grounds - and he knows this for a fact. He left Kelantan in a huff and it looks like his second shot o...

"Saya tidak akan beri komen atas kapasiti peribadi. Saya hanya akan komen untuk persatuan dan setakat ini saya tidak ingin beri apa-apa komen. Pihak persatuan masih meneliti perkara ini, kami belum lagi putuskan tarikh mesyuarat....lagipun kami ingin tumpu perlawanan malam esok (menentang ATM)." Itu merupakan kata-kata Presiden Persatuan Bola Sepak Terengganu yang juga pengurus pasukan, Che Mat Jusoh. Kata-kata pemain yang terlibat pula di khabarkan dalam Berita Harian semalam. Ini pula kata-kata jurulatih Terengganu Peter James Butler, melalui emel-nya kepada saya; As for the Incident recently in Kedah it was brought to my attention by a member of the hotel thats players had re entered the hotel at 2.30/3am morning of the Malaysia Cup game, i was oblivious to all this as i was on a different floor however, on further investigation i was told this was correct and there were girls on the floor from outside the hotel. A member of my playing staff came to see me afte...

TERKINI (1.50pm):  "Berita itu menggambarkan kami tidak bermoral sedangkan kami tidak bersalah kerana tidak seorangpun perempuan masuk ke bilik kami sepanjang berada di Alor Setar. “Kami kini dipandang serong oleh masyarakat dan saya sudah menghubungi peguam untuk berbincang mengenai tindakan undang-undang yang bakal diambil bagi membersihkan nama saya.” Itu merupakan kata-kata Ismail Faruqi yang dilaporkan oleh Harian Metro hari ini. Baca ' Kami difitnah ' untuk berita penuh. --- Yang Dipertua Persatuan Bola Sepak Negeri Terengganu Datuk Che Mat Jusoh berkata persatuan itu belum menerima sebarang maklumat dan laporan daripada (Peter) Butler berhubung salah laku dua pemain terbabit.     "Kita meminta dia (Butler) membuat laporan secara rasmi berhubung perkara itu kepada persatuan supaya siasatan dapat dijalankan," katanya kepada Bernama ketika diminta mengulas perkara itu. Bagaimanapun, Che Mat berkata beliau kecewa kerana perkara itu timbul keti...

I was invited to be on Bola@Mamak earlier this week together with BFM's radio pundit Ross Yusof, Brazilian Football academy coach Robson Mattos and former Kelantan coach Peter Butler. The show was hosted by Roshan Narayan. Naturally, the first subject of discussion was about Peter's 'difficult' time in Kota Baru. I had on the show teased the possibility of returning to the M-League to coach Selangor. And right after the show, Peter admitted if there was one team that would bring him back to Malaysia, it would be Selangor. Read Peter's Giant dream in today's Mailsport . HD says: It was a fun episode on Bola@Mamak.

UPDATE 1.55pm: Just got off the phone with Peter Butler who is in Indonesia at the moment. Here is what he said: "Let's get some facts straight. Firstly, I never walked out from Kelantan during my first stint. There was a clause in my contract stating Kelantan were to get back to me three months before my contract ended to notify me if they wanted to renew my contract. They never did. So I left as I was told they wanted to see how I would fare in the Malaysia Cup before thinking of renewing my contact. I came back because despite leaving, Annuar Musa and I still kept in touch and were very amicable. He offered me the job as Kelantan will be playing in the AFC Cup. What I noticed is that I was not notified about important things including the hiring of players. I would only be notified if I asked. I do not have any problems with the management. Dato Afendi is a great guy, so is Tuan Haji Azman. I know the players were fully supportive of me as I have received text messages fro...

Ini cerita terbaru, dari bandar Kota Baru. Bojan Hodak menjadi 'temporary custodian', untuk pasukan Kelantan. Peter Butler masih 'hilang', Kafa pun dah mula berang. Katanya Kafa tak nak Peter, Tapi kesian tengok dia menderita. Diberi gaji besar lagi lumayan, Sampai income tax Peter pun Kafa kena layan. Tapi sekarang dah berlaga, Dengar khabar nak ke court pun ada. Sekian sahaja pantun dari Kota Baru Lain lembaran kita bertemu. Ok tak? HD kato: Harap-harap dapat bertemu dengan Abe Peter dan dapatkan cerito sebenar daripadanya.

UPDATE 7.01pm: Btw, someone just told me this is an OLD photo. Hmmm... ------ We have heard about Peter Butler's story . Some have also read what Kelantan FA (Kafa) president Tan Sri Annuar Musa has got to say about the drama in Kota Baru. There are claims that; 1. Peter is engineering his own ouster from the Red Warriors. 2. Peter is looking at greener pastures with another team. 3. M.Karathu is not interested and should not be bothered about taking over Peter's role should he leave. But those are just claims. However, here is what has been posted on Tan Sri Annuar Musa's facebook; Admin: Peter Butler dan Tuan Haji Azman (pic), selepas heart to heart session semalam. Berbincang bersama, selesaikan masalah untuk kebaikan TRW kita. Ok, salah faham dah diselesaikan. Biasa la, dalam hidup krisis akan berlaku, cara kita tangani masalah tersebut yang penting. Insya Allah TRW akan bangkit semula daripada kekalahan tempoh hari! Lagi satu, untuk yang masih tak pasti, Ghaddar...