With the transfer window about to open plenty of gossip will be doing the rounds. As ever I will only post news that appears in other media.
The biggest news is of course Noh Alam Shah becoming a free agent after leaving Arema IPL. Tampines Rovers have said they will take him back in the blink of an eye; it's no secret NAS and the chairman of the Stags are very close.

Where has the filling gone for Home United "sandwich" ??"Two pieces of toasts without fillings in the middle" as what it sums up Home United performance in their season curtain-raiser against defending S.League champions Tampines Rovers in the Charity Shield match at JBS.
The void left by Valery Hiek was clearly illustrated in the goal conceded in less than five minute how the once stout brick-like Protectors' defense was fully exploited by Stags' new signing Davor Piskor with not follow up from Lionel Lewis' narrowing of angle from near distance.

(P.S: If you access this site via "come.to/matchpix", please click the "Facebook" icon after you click "HERE" when you want to view the album as that will redirect you to the album, thank you)

• SGFootball Friendly @ Padang - SCC 0-4 Hougang Utd (8/1/12))

The Cheetahs played their first match since resumed training three weeks ago and on the most expensive green on the island - The Padang against NFL side SCC.

It's been another exciting season in the SLeague with the title race not being decided until the last game of the season. The penultimate game between Home United and Tampines Rovers saw the Stags win 1-0; they went into their last game knowing three points would be enough. They won 5-0 to secure their first title in six years.

If fans of Indonesian football have any awareness at all of Singapore football it is probably limited to Tampines Rovers. The team from the east coast of the city state have provided several internationals to clubs in Indonesia with varying degrees of success.

Khairul Amri is widely recognized as one of the most talented players of his generation and when he made the move to Persiba Balikpapan many hoped he would bring his prodigious talent to one Oil City.

Indonesia Premier League
PSMS v Persebaya 1-2Persiraja v Persija (!) 3-3
Other games were scheduled but never happened. Arema flew all the way to Papua to play Persipura...but last year's champions had already withdrawn from the league and were playing n the Inter Island Cup. Who the hell allowed them to fly when they had no opponent?

Ahmad Latif's goal just after the hour mark means that the SLeague won't be decided until Sunday when both Home United and Tampines Rovers play their final game of the season.
You could say it's advantage Tampines as they have a narrow one point lead going into Crunch Sunday (hey, ESPN do it all the time) but Home United have the superior goal difference.

Mr Teo Hock Seng, Tampines chairman hugged by his players
after the 1-0 victory over Home United on an atrocious field. A decent turn out at the Tampines Stadium saw the epic clash between Tampines Rovers and league leaders Home United on a unplayable surface marred by the heavy downpour before the start.

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)
Former Lion Rafi Ali (with cap) is instrumental behind the success of the junior StagsSINGAPORE, 27 October 2011: Tampines Rover Prime League side overcame a resolute Singapore Recreation Club 8-7 on penalties to win their third Singapore Pools FA Cup.

I have been most remiss in my coverage of the SLeague in recent weeks and I do apologise for that. I hope to take some games in before the end of the season though.
So how do we stand as we enter the final furlong? I think it's fair to say it's a two horse race as the table shows;
1 - Home United 29 22 2 5 72-28 682 - Tampines Rovers 29 21 3 5 60-23 66
Four games remaining and a two point difference make for another exciting climax to the SLeague.

Long overshadowed by its more glamorous counterparts (i.e.: the S.League and the Singapore Cup), the FA Cup is the third major tournament organized by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) since 1995.
From 1999 onwards, the tournament had become a chance for a silverware for the NFL clubs after a decision was made that S.

AFC Cup
Arbil v Persipura 1-0 8,000 (Arbil win 3-1 on aggregate)Nasaf v Chonburi 0-0Muang Thong United v Kuwait SC 0-0 11,212 (KSC win 1-0 on aggregate and had 8 players booked!)
Malaysia Cup
Kedah v Perak 1-1Sabah v Johor 4-1Terengganu v Negeri Sembilan 0-0 Sime Darby v Selangor PKNS 0-1Kelantan v Felda United 2-0Johor FC v Sarawak 3-1Selangor v KL 2-1PDRM v T Team 0-6
Teams in bold qualify for next round which kicks off next Monday.

Mansfield Town have a new CEO, a 29-year-old who has a politics degree and has previously worked for some big fashion brands. Succeeding Steve Barker, the previous CEO, who has now moved on to a new role with Stags chairman John Radford's company, the new appointee is keen to start working with local businesses, increase gates, work with the fans you know, the usual stuff.

• S.League Match- Balestier Khalsa 0-1 Tampines Rovers (6/8/11)
  
  

Ahmad Latiff (pictured above in yellow jersey) delivered the sucker punch at the last kick of the game to help Tampines Rovers beat Balestier Khalsa 1-0 at Toa Payoh Stadium.
While the Tigers had a Mark McGough's goal disallowed which they claimed the Aussie's effort had crossed the goal line before Lions defender Fahrudin Mustafic cleared for safety in the first half.

Screen-grab of the livestreaming of the matchAs what Thailand's German coach Winfried Schaefer said before the game "Result doesn't matter" and so both his team and Singapore fought to a goal-less encounter in front a near empty gigantic Rajamangala Stadium.
Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic surprised many by naming just recovered Fahrudin Mustafic in the starting eleven for this Bangkok friendly.

Tweet courtesy of "@LigaSingapura"
Undoubtedly, the most successful coach in Tampines Rovers Football Club since the inception of the S.League in 1996 - Vorawan Chitavanich had stepped down as the club's Technical Director and decided to head home to Thailand.
The timing of his departure could not have come to a rather bumpy timing when the Stags are facing sticky patches of late after ACL injuries to star players such as 'keeper Hassan Sunny and defender Park Yo Seb that effectively rule them out of the rest of the campaign.

Talking with Singapore international midfielder Mustafic Fahruddin he confirmed he would be returning to the SLeague at the end of the Indonesia Super League season. He currently plays for Persela.
Should he pass the beep test, where professional footballers are expected to imitate RoadRunner, he hops to make his first appearance for the Stags against SAFFC.

For so long Sengkang Punggol were a laughing stock in the SLeague. If they dropped much further down the league table, nobody ever once said, they would end up in the Batam Regional League. Sengkang Punggol players couldn't score in Lorong 8 or Joo Chiat the mockers mocked. The guys behind the now extinct Fish Out Of Water blog produced more than their heroes ever did.

Prelude...
I'm not being unprofessional for placing this uncompleted team shot of the visiting Hanoi T & T (pictured above) before the start of their AFC Cup match against Tampines Rovers, as their star striker Le Cong Vinh abruptly left the field to have his boots changed before the shot was taken (much to our "disappointment").

In less than 24 hours the pole position of the league standings changes three times in the Round 6 of the 2010 S.League campaign.
Prior to the "Uniform Derby" at CCK, Home United were holding that position on top of their unbeaten 25-game unbeaten run, only to see that record shattered by their arch-rivals, SAFFC with their former protege, Indra Sahdan Daud playing a pivotal role in created and scoring a goal along the way to place the Warriors at the top for the first time this year.

Tampines Rovers (in yellow) gave themselves a good account against their much-fancied Thai opponents, Muangthong United (in red top), in this AFC Cup Group G encounter at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
The Stags managed to absorb the Twin-Qilins' slow turbo play up front, while catch them on the break, which worked in 23rd minute when veteran Aleksandar Duric finished off the ball in the box following a latched-on pass off a Hassan Sunny's drop-kick.

I must admit that sometimes some of my entries, comments may not be "music" to everyone's ears, but I believe these are my mere expression of opinions and thoughts.
Which is why as a thumb of rule, I always remind myself not to go overboard with the usage of words and phrase that might be uncomfortable to the others.

It is probably a reflection on the autocratic way in which most football clubs are run that when a chairman actually seems to be acting in a way that is beneficial to his club and his supporters, it can almost feel counter-intuitive. What, one could be tempted to think, is his ulterior motive? In the case of John Radford, the chairman of Mansfield Town, the answer seems to be, "the good of his football club", and both Radford and Mansfield had a decent result at their local County Court yesterday.

Locals' pride was salvaged in the last 10minutes of the game as Tampines Rovers came from behind to snatch a dramatic 2-1 win over the recently-revamped defending champions Etoile FC in the season opener - The Charity Shield at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
Things didn't start off too pretty for the Stags as they found themselves with a goal down from a spot-kick from Etoile in less than 20 minutes.

It felt too good to be true. We reported last month on Keith Haslam's decision to evict Mansfield Town from their Field Mill ground and on the subsequent agreement which allowed them to return to the ground before the matter became an issue that could seriously threaten their existence. With a public statement left on the club's official website this afternoon, however, it becomes clear that this matter is not resolved to anything like the extent that it should be by now and that Haslam, who seems fated to return to our attention time and time again as something approaching a pantomime villain, is reneging on a verbal agreement that he reached with the new owners of the club.