SLNA and other football teams in the same situation are facing the tricks of 'taking people'

Unlike the previous 3 contracts, last year Bac A only wanted to stick with SLNA with a 1-year contract. To be more precise, when SLNA could not "marry or sell" to anyone, Bac A offered a short-term contract. Thus, until the end of the 2019 fiscal year, SLNA will still have difficulty obtaining funds to buy players and will have to let the pillars leave one by one. After the incident of Trong Hoang "breaking the contract" last year, no player dares to gamble with "food, clothing, rice, money" even though their love for their hometown team is still full.

The bamboo is old but the bamboo shoots have not grown yet.

SLNA is facing a difficult situation, Mr. Thanh, despite his "rare" age, still has to shoulder the burden of running around to find funds to support the club. Even the position of Executive Director of Mr. Ho Van Chiem, which is just a simple administrative job, has not found a replacement. Normally, few people hold a position as a boss for more than 2 terms (10 years), but it seems that at SLNA, it is unknown when there will be "shoots" for a new management model when the "bamboo" is too old.

Many players will no longer wear SLNA jersey in the 2020 season. Photo: Archive

Over the past 10 years, fans have only looked at the achievements of SLNA Club, but few have paid attention to the performance of SLNA Football Joint Stock Company, which is responsible for planning the development strategy and investing in the team's facilities. How SLNA will fare next season depends entirely on the People's Committee of Nghe An Province, that is the only answer so far from those responsible for the Company.

Same fate

Right after S.Khanh Hoa was relegated, a series of players sent signals asking to leave. If Thanh Hoa does not win the play-off match, people will also witness the second consecutive year of Thanh Hoa players defecting. The life of a player is short, few people have the opportunity to give it up...

Another team that is also facing the same fate as SLNA is Nam Dinh. In theory, the sponsor Nam Ha Pharmaceuticals committed to being with Nam Dinh Football Club for 3 years. But this company is smart enough to include a clause in the contract that allows them to continue to accompany this club in the next seasons or not based on the performance and advertising effectiveness of this season.

Right after the season ended, names like goalkeeper Dinh Xuan Viet, defender Lam Anh Quang, Quoc Huong, Van Quy, midfielder Huu Dinh, The Vuong, Ha Long, Sy Minh... were targeted by several clubs.

A series of players will leave SLNA after the 2019 season ends. Photo: Archive

Similar to the situation of SLNA coach Duc Thang, even Technical Director Nguyen Van Sy and Head Coach Nguyen Van Dung and foreign players also ended their contracts after the season. Up to now, the foreign players of Nam Dinh and SLNA have also said goodbye, a rare commodity like D.Memović that no team immediately picks up is strange.

Unlike SLNA, the relationship between sponsors, the team and fans in Thanh Nam is much closer. Throughout the season, they have always accompanied each other in all activities, even the Nam Dinh Fan Club has taken on part of the ticket distribution for the club. This promises a greater probability of Nam Ha Pharmaceutical being associated with Nam Dinh and things will progress sooner.

For poor localities, raising a professional football team has never been easy. The concern of fans for Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa and SLNA is real, but how to solve it requires people with enough money in hand and a long-term football business strategy.