Saigon FC - waves at the bottom of the river

It seemed that Coach Duc Thang would continue to stick with Saigon after having just gone through a relatively successful season with only a few famous players such as Ngan Van Dai, Dinh Trong, Ngoc Duy, Quoc Long, but Saigon Club still stood.5th place overall. Saigon fans are hoping that coach Duc Thang will re-sign his contract and together with two players currently playing for the Vietnam U23 team, Dinh Trong and Van Hoang, will soon form the framework for the team in V-League 2018. But in reality, this coach has left.

Was having fun and the string broke

Mr. Dai is urgently preparing for Saigon to participate in V-League 2018. Photo: Internet

Starting with the fact that Mr. Nguyen Giang Dong left the position of President of the football team due to his age. The resignation of this boss was predicted since last season, but the issue of who would be handed over to "hand over the sword". Many people, including the coaching staff and Saigon players, "fell down" when Mr. Tran Tien Dai (boss Dai) "reappeared in the world". The reappearance in the football world of the former player of the Ho Chi Minh City Police is considered a surprise because he has been quite quiet in recent times.

In fact, "Bau Dai" holds many positions in the football field, and after leaving the field, he is famous for his role as a player broker, especially foreign players. The "super broker" of Vietnamese football, has successfully brokered many "huge" contracts and is the author of transfer deals that have made many clubs laugh and cry.

In the past, he was the CEO of Ninh Binh and Saigon Xuan Thanh clubs. In addition, "Mr. Dai" was once the director of Saigon Xuan Thanh club in the 2013 V-League season. He fired goalkeeper Tan Truong this season due to "poor performance" but he himself was involved in many real and fake scandals of Vietnamese football at that time.

In 2008, broker Dai came under the management of Mr. Truong with the mission of "transforming" the Son DTLA Club into Ninh Binh Club. About 3 years later, it was also Mr. Dai (who then transferred to become the General Director for Mr. Thuy) who "magically" transformed the First Division team Hoa Phat V&V into a new name, Sai Gon Xuan Thanh. Broker Dai was the author of the million-dollar contract to "lure" Samson from Dong Thap Club to Hanoi T&T or the 8 billion VND deal in exchange for the nod of striker Viet Thang to move from DTLA to Ninh Binh. Football brokers at that time said, "If the world has Jorge Mendes, Vietnam has Tran Tien Dai."

Mr. Truong (Tran Tien Dai's former boss at Ninh Binh Club) himself, after several years of cooperation, publicly spoke out: "People like Mr. Dai are destroying Vietnamese football."

Young teachers

It is not difficult to guess the reason why coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his coaching staff parted ways with the Saigon team less than 24 hours after the decision to appoint agent Dai was publicly announced. Two foreign players Patrick and Marcelo, along with a series of domestic players such as Chu Khanh Thanh, Do Van Thuan... and most recently Dinh Trong were also recalled by Hanoi FC.

The coaching staff of Saigon Club includes: Head coach Phan Van Tai Em, assistant coaches Nguyen Thanh Cong, Nguyen Ngoc Duy and goalkeeper coach Nguyen Hoang Duy. Photo: Internet

Tai Em, a former student of the new club president Tran Tien Dai, was hastily appointed as head coach after not receiving a nod from Lu Dinh Tuan returning from U23 Vietnam. The coaching staff of Saigon Club, including Thanh Cong and Hoang Duy, is currently considered the youngest in both age and experience in V-League 2018.

Except for coach Thanh Cong who has achievements in coaching and training young people, the rest only have professional qualifications. In the world, taking off your shoes and sitting in the head coach's chair is rare, in Vietnam there are not many people who have the opportunity like Tai Em. It is quite regrettable that they did not keep central defender Dinh Trong.

Regarding foreign players, Saigon FC is said to have reached an agreement with striker Nsi - last season playing XSKT.Can Tho, this player scored 16 goals and is on trial. Regarding domestic players, in addition to Vo Hoang Quang (SHB Da Nang), the new coaching board is planning to promote a few more young players to train with Saigon FC. Last season, this defender was injured, but has now fully recovered and is ready to play for the team.

Not the rookie Nam Dinh, but Saigon at this time in the situation of "old teacher, young singer", rushing to prepare for the new season is identified as being in the group running away from relegation./.