It started with Persiba Balikpapan. Former West Ham midfielder Peter Butler was their coach and I
thought yeah, would be good to meet him and have a chat. But he went and quit the club or was
sacked just ahead of their game against Persija in Jakarta. No one had the decency to consider me
and my plans.
With former West Ham player Peter Butler back in the hot seat Kelantan are lining up a busy pre
season ahead of the new season that begins in January.
Last Friday they defeated the Maldives national team in a friendly in KL with an estimated 7,000
fans cheering them on. New Ghanaian striker Dennis Antwi scored both goals.
A Persiba fan website is suggesting Peter Butler is in pole position for a return to Persiba.
The former West Ham player has coached there previously of course before going on a one man ASEAN
tour taking in Kelantan, Yangon United and BEC Tero.
A couple of years back I was looking forward to seeing Persija play Persiba. The reason? Persiba
were coached by former West Ham player Peter Butler and I thought he would make an interesting
interview.
Anyway, ahead of the game he only went and got the sack. Most frustrating but hey. That's football
as they all say.
The gent behind Thai Football News was in touch yesterday asking about former West Ham midfielder
Peter Butler. He had heard that the one time SAF, Sabah, Persiba and Kelantan coach had upped
sticks and moved to Myanmar.
Wikipedia states he as been appointed Technical Director of Yangon United without citing a source.
Peter Butler has been appointed coach of Terangganu. He takes over from Mat Aziz who was
controversially dismissed last week.
Butler, who played for West Ham United, will be up against one of his former clubs next week when
Terengganu take on Kelantan in the AFC Cup in what promises to be a very tasty affair.
Being reported that Peter Butler, who used to play for West Ham United, will soon be back at the
helm of Kelantan. Malaysia Football says the former coach of SAFFC, Persiba, Kelantan and Yangon
United will return to his old desk next month.
Former West Ham United midfielder Peter Butler has turned up at BEC Tero! This adds yet another
ASEAN country to his own personal mission to coach in all 10 member nations.
SabahSAFFCPersibaKelantanYangon United
Still to go are Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia, Brunei and the Philippines.
Terengganu coach Mat Zan Mat Aris, one name, has quit. The team are third in the Malaysia Super
League, 10 points behind leaders LionsXII but with three games in hand. However that doesn't seem
to be enough for the team from the North East who were surprisingly knocked out of the FA Cup semi
finals by Premier League side Sime Darby (no relation to Steve) and have only won one in their last
five Super League games.
Sunday Seah was top scorer for Persiwa a couple of years back. Not bad for a goalkeeper! No I
understand, after a year in the Indonesian Premier League he has found his way to Myanmar where he
has joined the Delta United.
Also read on a message board that coach Ken Worden Terengganu will also be moving to Myanmar to
coach South Myanmar United once the Turtles' Malaysia Cup endeth the run.
Things have been quiet of late what with Ramadhan and the Eid festival but that's all coming to an
end and how.
We'll start off with the SLeague in Singapore. Despite all the doom and gloom merchants who come
crawling out of (Sentosa artificial) rocks every time some bad news is percieved to hit the game
there things ain't so bad in Lion City.
Former national coach B. Sathianathan has accepted an offer from Kelantan to take charge of their
team for the Malaysia Cup competition which kicks off on Saturday.
Sathianathan, who met KFA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa in Kota Baru yesterday, said that details
of the contract would be drawn up soon.
PETALING JAYA: Peter Butler has resigned as coach of Kelantan, throwing the team's preparations for
next week's Malaysia Cup competition into disarray.
Azman Ibrahim, the chairman of the team management committee, said Butler had on Thursday informed
the Kelantan FA (Kafa) via fax of his intention to resign with immediate effect as his wife was
ill.
Finally. After leaving Kelantan, Peter Butler has returned to another former club, Persiba
Balikpapan. It had been rumoured for a few days, once Butler had gone public over concerns that the
Kelantan management had over ruled him on team selection matters.
It was Butler's second spell with Kelantan and this will be his second spell with Persiba.
It's not been the best of times for the British contingent in the Thai Premier League. Coach David
Booth was sacked from Si Sa Ket. Peter Butler was sacked from BEC Tero. Bryan Robson and Steve
Darby quit from their posts with the Thai national team. Scotsman Steven Robb went a couple of
months without getting paid.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then two time Thai Premier League champions Muang
Thong United should be feeling dead chuffed. Because BEC Tero are looking to recapture past glory
and the step is packing their underachieving squad with former Muang Thong players.
But first coach Peter Butler, formerly of SAFFC, Persiba, Kelantan and Yangon United, had a bloody
great hole to fill.
The race for 4th place in the Thai Premier League is seemingly one that no one wants to win.
Bangkok Glass were spanked 4-1 by Osotspa Saraburi yesterday, handing the initiative back to Thai
Port, but we could not take advantage of our game in hand - losing 4-2 against BEC Tero @ Thepsadin
Stadium.
Indonesia Super League
Persiba v Persidafon 1-2 (Kenji Adichihara; Pahabol, Rasmoyo) 2,314Gresik United v Deltras 2-1
(Warwan Sayedh, David Faristian; M Fakhrudin) 18,880 Divisi Utama (LI)
PSGL v Persita 1-2 (Junarto; Luis Edmundo Riquelme, Christian Carrasco) 8,200 Malaysia Super League
Selangor v Kelantan 2-1 (Safiq Rahim, Basko Balaban; Sunbraniam)Negeri Sembilan v PKNS 1-1 (Owona;
Paulo Ferriera)Perak v LionsX11 1-2 (Michal Kubala; Shahril Ishak, Saiful Esah)Felda United v T
Team 0-3 (Faiz Subri 2, Zailani)Sabah v KL 2-0 (Rahman, Baird)Terengganu v Kedah 1-1 (Samsuddin;
Muhymeen)Johor FC v Sarawak 1-2 (Arthur Henrique; Guy Bwele, Azizan Baba)
News dominated in Malaysia yesterday with stories that Kelantan coach Peter Butler could reconsider
his position at the club citing interference by the club president.
Indonesia Super League
Persiba v Persidafon 1-2 (Kenji Adichihara; Pahabol, Rasmoyo) 2,314Gresik United v Deltras 2-1
(Warwan Sayedh, David Faristian; M Fakhrudin) 18,880 Divisi Utama (LI)
PSGL v Persita 1-2 (Junarto; Luis Edmundo Riquelme, Christian Carrasco) 8,200 Malaysia Super League
Selangor v Kelantan 2-1 (Safiq Rahim, Basko Balaban; Sunbraniam)Negeri Sembilan v PKNS 1-1 (Owona;
Paulo Ferriera)Perak v LionsX11 1-2 (Michal Kubala; Shahril Ishak, Saiful Esah)Felda United v T
Team 0-3 (Faiz Subri 2, Zailani)Sabah v KL 2-0 (Rahman, Baird)Terengganu v Kedah 1-1 (Samsuddin;
Muhymeen)Johor FC v Sarawak 1-2 (Arthur Henrique; Guy Bwele, Azizan Baba)
News dominated in Malaysia yesterday with stories that Kelantan coach Peter Butler could reconsider
his position at the club citing interference by the club president.
It's the oldest football competition in the region by far and much older than some Johnny come
latelys like the Champions League and the World Cup. Yet it gets scant coverage inside and out of
Malaysia despite the final being an occassion to savour with attendances well in excess of
50,000.
Reports in Indonesia today suggest that Kelantan and Malaysia goalkeeper Khairul Fahmie is a
target for Persib Bandung. Fahmie, who has impressed many with his performances for the national
team on the way to winning the AFF Cup last year and the SEA Games earlier this week.
However his coach at Kelantan, Englishman Peter Butler, has said that Fahmie is going
nowhere.
Les Rosbifs is confirming that Bryan Robson and Steve Darby have quit from their positions as chief
coach and the other guy of the Thai National team.
The announcement comes ahead of Thailand's World Cup qualifying campaign for which there has been
zero preparation...a trend in Thailand over recent years.
Persiba go into today's game with Persija at Bung Karno Stadium without a familiar face. Technical
Director Daniel Roekito quit last week. Persiba currently sit 3rd. If you had told me they would
have been serious title challengers for most of the season I would have pissed myself laughing.
As it is the Persija curse strikes the Balikpapan boys again.
There was never any doubt, was there. Group B was a formality for Vietnam and Myanmar, just a kick
around ahead of the semis.
Myanmar technically looked good but a lack of pace up front held them back most of the game. They
may argue they won 4-0 but it was the Philippines they were playing, not Brazil.
Former Home United coach PN Sivaji is another Singaporan taking his talent overseas. He has signed
a 12 month deal with Okkthar United United in the Myanmar National League.
Last season Okkthar finished 6th in the eight team league but the MNL is expanding and this season
sees 11 teams competing.
Peter Butler is back in Malaysian football. After leaving Terengganu, he wanted to discipline players, the club wouldn't let him, he will work with T Team next season, also from Terengganu.
He is also bringing with him a name familiar to people who watch English Premier League clubs; at least them that watch both teams playing.
Given the make up of the eastern half the AFC Cup group stage there was always going to be some
representatives from the region going through to the knock out stage and it was five that made it
with some drama along the way.
Terengganu may have sacked their coach at the start of the week but it didn't stop them flying to
Hong Kong and getting a 2-2 draw with Kitchee.
Reports suggesting Kelantan have moved swiftly to replace Peter Butler with Bojan Hodak. The
Croatian is no stranger to Malaysia having worked with the short lived and daftly named MyTeam who
were apparently part of a reality TV show.
Last year he worked with Phnom Penh Crown, building the foundations of a title winning team before
moving on to Shandong Leung in China.
News from Singapore that one of the ex Arsenal trainees who joined Geylang United has been dropped
before he could kick a ball in anger.
Oliver Nicholas came over to Singapore to take part in trials conducted by the Singapore Football
Association along with several other hopefuls and Geylang must have seen enough because they signed
him up.
Kelantan are building for an exciting season including AFC Cup action, will they be able to play
their home games in Kota Bahru, and are taking advantage of new rules that allow them to sign
foreigners.
In has come Lebanese striker Mohamed Ghaddar for example. He has proved a regular scorer for his
national team, 26 goals in 46 games according to Wiki.
Yangon United terminated the contract with the Head Coach, Peter Butler, on 4th May 2010. The event
follows an unfruitful start to the 2010 campaign with the team dropping altogether 10 points just 6
games into the season.
The team has now played 6 games, won 2, drew 2 and lost 2 getting only 8 points from a possible 18
and the management decided to take action after losing 2-1 to 10 men Delta United on Sunday.
