Kedah acting coach Mohd Nidzam resigns after team's poor results

Kedah's acting coach Mohd Nidzam Adzha who stepped into the shoes of the suspended Wan Jamak Wan Hassan, resigned with immediate effect following the team's streak of poor results.

Wan Jamak was suspended for seven Super League matches by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for his alleged criticism of the standard of refereeing after his team drew 1-1 against Perak in their Group A match Malaysia Cup match on Sept 28.

Mohd Nidzam, a former Kedah and national striker, was the President's Cup coach before assuming the role of acting coach of the Super League team but the Kedah team has not achieved a win in five matches since the start of the M-League.

Last night was probably the last straw for Mohd Nidzam when he saw his charges go down 1-3 to Johor FC at their own backyard - Darul Aman Stadium - to remain at the bottom of the league table with two points from two draws.

Besides Wan Jamak, assistant coach Radzi Mat Din and the goalkeeper coach, Ahmad Sobri Ismail were also suspended for four matches.

Mohd Nidzam said he made the decision because despite his sincere efforts to lift the spirit of the team, they (the team) had failed to show any improvement in the league table.

"I am handing over the baton to assistant coach Radhi Mat Din and return to the President's Cup squad and focus on building that team," he told reporters here today.

Mohd Nidzam however, expressed confidence that the Kedah team would rise from their recent slump and improve their standing in the league.

He urged the players to no point fingers at each other for the failure but remain focused, determined and take full responsibility to improve their game.

Meanwhile, the Kedah Football Association (KFA) would conduct a post-mortem on the recent slump of the team so as to quickly identify reasons behind the spate of poor performances.

Team manager Datuk Khazali Din said the KFA had already acted swiftly by sacking both the foreign players in the squad, Daniel Soares Neves and Danilo Rafael Dos Santos Vivaldo from Brazil.

"Their contracts was terminated for not performing up to the mark. We had to pay RM150,000 each as compensation to terminate their services," he said.

Last night about 1,000 fans had gathered outside the Darul Aman Stadium long after the match against Johor FC was over, to register their protest against the squad's poor run of results.

The fans were demanding for the resignation of team manager Khazali who was later escorted out of the stadium by police as fans turned unruly.

Some fans who were not happy with the team manager, even went to the extend of chasing after his car to register their message, urging him to quit.