October 1,
2004
It was a Thai night as Thai J Surachai, Home United midfield maestro, walked off with the
S-League Player of the Year Award for 2004 & on the same night Tampines Rovers' Vorawan Chitavanich took home the Coach of the Year.
Home United coach Darby was delighted that his charge, J Surachai, had been recognised,
saying it could not have happened to a better professional & the players
(Home United) certainly support the choice.
Also for Darby he always has a hard
time getting the Thai off the field to rest.
After receiving his award last night,
an emotional Surachai said he had no regrets spending
the latter part of his career in
The ex-Thai international said
Also with one more year
left on his playing contract at Home United he hope to be able to find a job
here after that.
Not that it will be a problem as he
holds a degree in Physical Science & also has an AFC 'A" coaching licence. Also earlier this year,
On being recognised
as the best player in
Meanwhile Countryman Vorawan, 44, hailed his coaching award as one of the
biggest achievements in his career. He became the first Thai coach to receive
the award, and it was his second nomination, after 2001.
He said winning the title with Tampines Rovers was fantastic but now, being given this honour makes everything even more special. Still he would
not have been able to win this award if his team had not played so well this
season. They have won the championship & booked a place in the Cup final.
That is great credit to the players.
For that the Stags were rewarded
handsomely as both Nazri Nasir
& Mustafic Fahrudin won
the
Nazri paid tribute to the fans, who voted him the
People's Choice award winner saying he is very surprised to get this award at
this age – sudah tua lah (I'm already old in Malay) but he really appreciate the
fact that the fans still recognise his efforts
despite all the criticism that he had. He got to thank them for still believing
in him.
23-year-old Fahrudin,
the first foreign player to receive the Young Player of the Year award said
this has been a great season for Tampines & this
award is motivation for him to become a better player.