PETALING JAYA: The Kelantan FA (Kafa) have been dealt a cruel blow with the loss of the services of coach B. Sathianathan (pic) for the new season, which kicks off on Saturday.
The Red Warriors are getting ready for their season-opening Charity Shield match at the Shah Alam Stadium against Selangor, which also counts as a Super League fixture.
But yesterday, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) appeals committee upheld the decision of the disciplinary board to suspend Sathianathan for six months with immediate effect.
This means that Sathianathan, who led Kelantan to a historic Malaysia Cup victory last year, cannot be involved in any FAM activities until July 24.
A disappointed Sathianathan said he would leave it to Kafa to decide on his future.
“I will seek a meeting with the management to know what lies ahead for me with the team,” he said.
In fact, Sathianathan was supposed to attend a pre-match (Charity Shield) meeting at the Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya yesterday. But Kafa informed him about the suspension and he had to stay away from the meeting.
FAM general secretary Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad confirmed that the appeals committee, led by chairman Ganarajah Ayathurai, upheld the disciplinary board’s decision to suspend Sathianathan.
“The appeals committee had put on hold the decision until their meeting today and a decision has been made to uphold the DB decision,” he said.
Last October, Sathianathan received a rude shock barely hours before the kick-off of the Malaysia Cup semi-final second-leg match against Kedah in Kota Baru when he learnt about the suspension.
The disciplinary board meted out the punishment on Sathianathan for touching on FAM policy matters in the media.
Sathianathan sat out the match but received a reprieve for the final against Negri Sembilan when the suspension was temporarily lifted after he filed an appeal against it.
Sathianathan had questioned the FAM’s competitions committee’s decision to play Perlis’ home match in the Super League against Terengganu on July 27 in Kuala Terengganu as Stadium Utama in Kangar had been booked for other activities.
By letting Terengganu play hosts, Sathianathan felt that it gave the Turtles the added advantage. At that time Kelantan and Terengganu were in a neck-and-neck race for the runners-up spot behind Selangor.
Meanwhile, T-Team coach Che Ku Marzuki was also suspended for six months for the same offence. However, he will be free to coach again in April as his suspension began last October.
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