Tony Fernandes should consider giving Safee Sali a trial at QPR. Leave alone the transfer to QPR!

Ever since Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes bought over Queens Park Rangers from Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, football fans in Malaysia keep asking Tony to bring our national striker, Safee Sali to the play in Premier League.

With Tony Fernandes, there is always hope. In Air Asia, we believe in “Now everyone can fly”. So with QPR, Malaysians do believe “Now everyone can play in Premier League”. That explains why all are pushing for Safee Sali to be given chance in Premier League.

If we never try, we never know. Those who have doubt on Safee’s talent should know this. Safee, currently plying his trade for Pelita Jaya from Indonesian Super League, scored 7 goals in 13 appearances on his first season. He officially transferred to Pelita Jaya on a USD 30,000 transfer fee and his salary reached USD 10,000/ RM 30,360 and is given a condo plus driver from his manager. Do you know, Safee is the first Malaysian player to play at the Indonesian Super League.

Plea for Tony to bring Safee to QPR began to circulate once Khairy Jamaluddin tweeted on this to Tony.

This morning, our patriotic radio DJs from hitz fm, JJ & Ean started the page in Facebook for Malaysians to “like” the page (Safee Sali to play in QPR) as a sign of support and so, another plea was made at national radio! Within hours, there are 747 likes on the page. 

Hitz.fm supports the idea of Safee Sali playing for Queens Park Rangers. (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safee-Sali-to-play-for-QPR/249129045109515?sk=wall. Those still reading this post right now, show your support to Safee Sali. “Like” that page!

As the main shareholder in QPR, Tony does have the right to bring in any players that he wished. But that still depend on the player permit application. Football players who are from outside Europe will be required to obtain a work permit if they wish to ply their trade in English football.

Not all footballers who wish to apply for work permits will be automatically be granted them as there is specific criteria by which the immigration authorities will judge the application. Work permits will only be issued to international football players of the highest calibre who will be able to make a significant contribution to the development of the game of football in the United Kingdom at the highest level.

Here comes the headache, for a foreign player to apply for permit in UK, the criteria must be met:

a) A player must have player for his country in at least 75% of its competitive A team matches of which he was available for selection, during the two years preceding the date of the application

b) The player’s country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application

In Safee Sali’s case, he got a tick in (a) but not in (b). Malaysia are ranked at 146 at latest FIFA World Ranking. Looking at such requirement, it is very unlikely that Safee will get his chance in QPR. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that’s the end of the journey. There is another option!

Tony can actually offer a free trial to Safee Sali. He might not be able to play in competitive match for QPR, but at least he can test himself by training with QPR players; Adel Taarabt, DJ Campbell, Jay Bothroyd, Kieron Dyer or Daniel Gabbidon.

The prospect of learning tricks from these established players are enough to send shivers down Safee’s spine. Learning from Adel Taarabt! Hello, this player was linked to Real Madrid and Manchester United during the summer. World Class! After the trial, we can see what QPR manager, Neil Warnock has to say about Safee.

When Manchester City was bought over by Thaksin Shinawatra, three players from Thailand was given a trial to train Manchester City squads. Eventhough the 3 players didn’t make it, at least they have the chance to show where they stand. The same goes to Safee Sali.

My plea to Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, please pass the words to Neil Warnock to give Safe Sali a trial at QPR. We never try, we never know.

(Malaysian football depends on Bayern Munich coach! That malaysian-born coach!)

http://confessionsofanikeholic.blogspot.com/2011/09/malaysian-football-depends-on-bayern.html




I end this post with the parody by Hitz fm's "Hitam Kuning" by Jj & Ean feat. Nadhira.


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