Buck up or face suspension, Khairy warns FAM

National football coach, Dollah Salleh's resignation will not resolve any issues faced by the Football Association of Malaysia, says Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin.

Citing the decision as the right one, Khairy said that it is obvious that Dollah was left with no choice to leave the hot seat in FAM following the humiliating defeat in their third group A match in the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asia Cup Qualifying Round in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

“I wish to thank him (Dollah) for his services especially in leading the national football team," said Khairy adding that Dollah will be bsummoned y FAM management soon to obtain a comprehensive report from him.

“I will call FAM soon, I will also study the report which was submitted and find out what's happening with it (FAM). From my observation, the substandard quality of national football has deteriorated in the country’s football history,” he said.

He also stressed that he is non-hesitant to make any drastic decision if needs be.

As a minister, he has the power to suspend FAM just as how the Indonesian counterpart has done.

“We have multiple moves to take, a drastic action such as Indonesia, but I refused to go there at all. If FAM has no plan and plans to ignore, I must consider taking a more drastic action.

“From my observation, FAM doesn’t place football as priority. I almost concluded that FAM members are unsuitable to be in the association,” said Khairy at a press conference after the launch of Fit Malaysian in Terengganu, today.

He also urged FAM leadership to consider the best move for the growth of national football.

“Ask yourself, what suits you,” he said, when prodded on whether he would seek for the resignation of FAM management.

The 51-year-old coach is no stranger to the local football scene as he had helmed several local teams to victories in various championships in the Malaysia League and was in fact honoured as the coach with the magic touch.

Dollah's best achievements as a coach was in 2005 when he took the Selangor team to win a treble - the Premier League, FA Cup and Malaysia Cup.

He also guided four teams in the Premier League to top of the table namely MPPJ FC (2004), Selangor (2005), Pahang (2012) and police (2014) in the Super League.

Dollah was appointed by FAM in 2014 after the body decided not to renew the contract of former coach Datuk K. Rajagobal which ended on Dec 31, 2013.