SLNA needs a boost

(Baonghean.vn) - Right after the humiliating defeat at home against Quang Nam FC, SLNA Club welcomed the Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh for a visit and working session. There, the Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary emphasized: SLNA should not be proud of the past. We must continue to maintain the youth training system, because this is the main human resource of the Club. Fans are looking forward to a "boost" from local leaders.

Proud but not asleep

For nearly 4 decades, SLNA has been a monument of Vietnamese football, winning all types of football cups from the first team to all age groups. Not to mention, SLNA is the only team that has never been relegated and has one of the most powerful fan bases in Vietnam. The imprints and efforts of many generations of players and coaches have been recognized by local leaders and a large number of fans and are the pride of Nghe An whenever SLNA is mentioned. Many people even say: "When talking about Nghe An, we must mention the tradition of studiousness and football".

At one time, Vinh Stadium was known as a "fire pan" with enthusiastic cheering from Nghe An fans. Photo: Duc Dung.

But in these two seasons, Vinh stadium has been as empty as a “Ba Danh pagoda”, many matches had no more than 2,000 spectators, which is a fact. SLNA’s youth teams have gradually disappeared from the Final Rounds, the rankings after the 2011 V-League championship are 4, 4, 5, 7, 9 respectively and are tending to drop this season, which is causing headaches for the team’s coaching staff. From the position of “wanting to win is winning, wanting to lose is losing”, now SLNA even “scratched and scratched” to draw with Dong Thap, the team that has been relegated, no longer motivated to compete.

Perhaps, it is not for nothing that the Provincial Party Secretary directed that “SLNA should not be proud of the past” because more than anyone else, local leaders have felt the need to innovate the club’s management. To be more precise, with the current people and management style, SLNA has reached its ceiling in terms of achievements and is showing signs of falling behind other localities.

SLNA really needs a new shirt

Football is a sport that serves the needs of the community. The recent deserted Vinh Stadium is like a message from the majority of Nghe An audiences to the team they have been playing for for nearly 40 years. Even when referee Trung Kien B admitted his mistake in blowing the wrong call when a Quang Nam player scored, many audiences still believed that SLNA "blames themselves first, then blames others". Deeper than a losing match is the need for a comprehensive change in the way the club is managed and operated.

In the past, SLNA was proud to be a pioneer in the model of the Football Union as a revenue-generating public service unit, in the context that other football teams were still only level 1 units under the Department of Sports and Physical Training. SLNA has the right to be proud of being one of the clubs that soon established the model of a Football Joint Stock Company to manage the team according to AFC standards. But then, nearly 2 decades later, SLNA is still just the same people, the same management style...

It is time for the provincial leaders to have a three-way meeting to find a new direction, a new look for SLNA, so that we have the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of glory. Illustrative photo.

Two decades, enough time for Cong Vinh to go from a boy from Quynh Luu to Vinh to learn a trade, become a professional player and become the owner of Ho Chi Minh City Club, sitting on the same level as his fathers and uncles.

It is no coincidence that many countries and large economic groups stipulate that the leader can only hold office for no more than 2 terms. Simply, after so many years, people will gradually lose their work inspiration as well as creativity and become an obstacle to the innovation process of the country and unit.

Being stationed in an area with an underdeveloped economy, SLNA has encountered certain difficulties in the development process. However, in reality, the team has had opportunities to rise up when Petroleum Finance Company, LILAMA, VTC, SHB… have repeatedly expressed interest in cooperation and investment.

Looking at the current faces at the club, it is difficult to find an influential person who does well in football business, while the North Asian investor chose the management model of "giving the club autonomy in everything except money" which unintentionally locked the team out.

It is time for the provincial leaders to have a 3-way meeting to find a new direction, a new look for the team. Otherwise, every year we invest no less than 50 billion VND in football but only attract about 20 thousand spectators to Vinh Stadium, which is an extremely wasteful thing for a poor province. Behind the meeting of the Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh, a large number of Nghe An audiences really need the participation of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Culture - Sports and Bac A Bank. Only then can SLNA develop!

N@T