WELCOME 2014... Stay Away from Football...

I do hope you guys had fun in counting down last night till this morning with the ushering of 2014.

Nothing major in the scene other than having a few clubs already kick off their pre-season preparation for the upcoming S.League season (scheduled to kick off on 19th Feb - subject to change).

It's also a time when we see players moving around the island after being released from their original clubs or having a few who decided to hang up their boots to venture into a more stabling career path.

Sometimes, we shouldn't feel that bit of pity if any player made up their mind to curtain their pro football career, rather we should be happy to see them managed to secure a livelihood, especially in a totally different industry.

Benoit (centre) and Lionel (right) retired in 2012

The past years saw the likes of former national custodian Lionel Lewis and ex-Tampines Rovers defender Benoit Croissant retired from the game and seemingly adapting well in their new environment.

As we can see from here, adequate planning ahead is a must for any local full-time player should one day they suddenly find themselves out of work which was best illustrated in the words of Tampines defender Shaiful Eash in his recent differences with national coach Bernd Stange following the omission of the ace left-footer from the Asian Cup Qualifiers setup in last November.

Shaiful Esah is upgrading himself

Reasoned his thoughts to The Straits Times back then, Shaiful said:"The local footballers are paid peanuts compared to top European players. We cannot depend on football to feed us after our playing days are over. I only have N Levels qualification and I hope to upgrade myself and be a safety supervisor in the construction business when I've finished my football career."

Agree with that point from that perspective and things can't be helped by the flip-flopping of the German coach's approach on the Asian Cup campaign then.

After all, one can't pin all his post-career hopes on the same field with the harsh reality being that the poorly structured Singapore football scene is deterring everyone from taking the plunge further.

Happy New Year to everyone...