KUALA LUMPUR – Kuching City FC firmly believes that Joseph Kalang Tie is the ideal candidate to nurture the club’s future talents to reach greater heights in the years to come.
The 37-year-old club legend, who has had three stints with the Sarawakian side, was recently promoted as the team’s under-23 assistant coach on a two-year contract.
This followed his retirement last month, which he cited was due to his struggles in coping with competitive football.
Speaking to Scoop, Kuching City FC chief executive officer Iswandi Ali Hassan said that the club is confident in Joseph’s ability to connect with young players and contribute his expertise to the team’s development.
“Joseph knows how to connect well with the youngsters. That is why we’ve entrusted him with the assistant coach role for the under-23 team.
“He also wants to give back what he has learned over the years to the club that he loves the most. We admire his commitment to the club, and that’s why we gave him a two-year contract.
“We are understanding, and we don’t want to pressure him to deliver in the next two years. We are ready to give him as much time as he wants to bring out the best in our youngsters in the club.
“I have known Joseph for more than five years and I admire his level of discipline. Without a doubt, he, together with under-23 head coach Oleg Kuzmianok, will lead the team to success,” said Iswandi when contacted.
At the same time, Iswandi also said that Joseph’s legacy for the club is inimitable, recognising the challenge of finding a suitable successor.
“Joseph will forever be one of the biggest players in our club’s history. Nobody can recreate the legacy that he has created at the club. We at Kuching FC will forever be indebted to him for all his services to the club.
“I can openly say that we can never find a player like Joseph in our club, and it will take years for us to nurture a player like him,” Iswandi added.
Aside from his playing days in Kuching, Joseph has also had two stints with Terengganu FC (2008 to 2011 and 2016 to 2017), Pahang FC (2017 to 2018), and Selangor FC (2018 to 2019).
Joseph has also made a total of seven appearances and scored two goals for the national football team between the years 2011 and 2016.
The East Malaysian club made a comeback to the Malaysia Super League last year after spending three seasons in the M3 League (2020/2021, 2021/2022, and 2022/2023).
Kuching finished 13th with 12 points in the Super League last season. – April 18, 2024