March 2024

[Special] New SPL Rules – Transfers and Short-Term Stability for LCS

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have a new guest writer. I first came across his website a couple of months back, and was impressed by the think-pieces put out there. While I did not agree with everything written, I felt this was the variety needed on sailorfantalk.com. We need LCS fans to write, but sometimes we also want local football fans who are not LCS fans chiming in as well. So I reached out to him, and this piece was birthed! Introducing Check King, our latest contributor to sailorfantalk.com! I hope you enjoy his unique style of writing, and I hope it gives you much food for thought as well. As always chime in in the comments! On Feb 11, 2024 the Singapore Premier League confirmed a slew of new player registration rules. Squad sizes are now limited to between 18 and 25 registered players, teams are no longer required to start an under-23 local player in each game, and the league confirmed a 5+1+3 formula for foreign player registration. Toward the end of 2023/24, the arrivals of Bailey, Richairo, and Rui led many to wonder what the Sailors’ long-term plans were regarding foreign player registration. Plainly, LCS’ outsized ability financial ability relative to other SPL teams was clear, as LCS could afford to sign Bailey as a replacement for Súper’s foreign player slot, relegating him to appearances only in continental competition. After the kind of administrative and registration gymnastics that LCS contended with toward the end of last season, this transfer season kicked off with LCS’ need to manage their transfers in-house in the first place. To that extent, the clearest transfer business for LCS arguably hasn’t been about transfers in – it is LCS having settled who has stayed. Fitting who stays in this formula, LCS had Bailey (AFC slot), Maxime, Rui, Richairo committed. When I first drafted this paragraph in the middle of February, I wrote that LCS had done all that clearance work to now “have space to sign two foreigners and three u-21 foreigners.” Foreign Signings as Match-Winners LCS’ work in foreign signings has remained the same. Put simply, foreign signings in the past were simple: you have a limited number of slots, and financial ability. The foreign signing needed to be someone who would win you matches on his own. Most foreign signings have been forwards or centre-backs in this respect. There has also been a large variance in quality: Ken Ilsø and Stipe Plazibat sit opposite Bernie Ibini-Isei on this large spectrum. Usually, these foreign signings would serve as the spine of teams. In order to maximise their chances of winning, foreign signings occupied central positions, and we had (have) an ecosystem that requires an “emptying out” of our best local players in this position. Looking at centre-backs, for example: Safuwan, Hariss, Irfan are players who have spent or who will spend most of their career abroad. The same is happening now with Jacob and Ikhsan. With more foreign players in the starting 11 next season, the effect of “emptying out” is likely to be more pronounced for all clubs, not just LCS. From the perspective of the Singapore national team, you would want players like Nur Adam, Hami and Zharfan to eventually go on and play abroad as well. LCS’ last two open-age foreign signings, Toni Datkovic and Bart Ramselaar, now fall into this category of players “down the spine”. Which local players will rise to the challenge and still wrest gametime for themselves in the face of increased competition? FAS / AFC Calendar Alignment At the same time, with FAS aligning registration rules with AFC competition, LCS has had to think very differently about both competitions in the last few seasons. This season and the next serve as important adjustment periods, especially after the upheaval of 2023/24. After recording some spectacular results in the ACL, however, LCS fans should be prepared for a similar level of adjustment – here I’m thinking about Diego Lopes and the way he took some time to settle into the squad and contribute effectively. The spine of the team appears more settled too and most of the starters are in their supposed primes. Yet, LCS’ squad will not get any younger, so I’m not sure what LCS sees in its post-2026 future. With their eyes on both ACL2 and the SPL, LCS’ sheer financial ability means that LCS’ squad-planning is an outlier amongst local clubs, and will do little to shape FAS’ broader SPL registration rules. Ironically, however, LCS may benefit from any long-term fruits that the new u-21 foreigner rule encourages in the next few seasons for other clubs who lean into this kind of signing and develop their own overseas partnerships. The same sheer financial ability will mean that LCS can wait for say, Tanjong Pagar Utd to experiment with foreign youngsters, and if they strike gold with one import, LCS can just swoop in to sign him. Yet, given that the full alignment of FAS/AFC registration and calendar competitions might be complete minimally after two years, it might be fascinating to see if LCS simultaneously develop the ability to lean into this new type of youth signing. BGTRFC, FAS Reform, and Youth Signings If we turn our attention away from the Sailors, this new u-21 rule gives other clubs this year something else to think about. This u-21 rule offers a different type of foreign signing, making it easier for clubs to attract youth players in other ecosystems to develop in Singapore. Tampines’ ([now BG Tampines Rovers](https://www.tampinesrovers.com/chairmans-message)) partnership with BG in Thailand, and its swift signing of two young Thai players, was the best example of this new relationship. It is far too early now to argue how this rule will pan out. Mostly, this rule has to be read with wider FAS reforms in mind, and with the consideration that FAS’ main priority now is the raising of grassroots levels of football, and the fact that these results on the level

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[Specials] Chin Heng: My 2024/2025 Season Wishlist

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have guest writer Tan Chin Heng contributing yet another article! Chin Heng joined The Crew and SailorFanTalk in away trips for the ACL last season, and is an avid traveller, taking in football and rugby matches far and wide. Taking lessons from places he has travelled to, here he writes about his wishlist as a supporter for the season ahead! With the first two games of preseason gone, it feels like the SPL is well and truly back! Okay not really, since our first pre-season game featured exactly zero first-team regulars, and a smattering of first-team players got some minutes in the second game. Nonetheless, it was still some minutes for our younger players, and it was also good to see familiar faces back in Bishan stadium after a few months. As we countdown to an exciting new season with (possibly) 10 teams in the SPL, as well as our first foray into ACL2, I thought it would be a good time to take stock of how the club did last season off the pitch, and also come up with a wishlist of some improvements that I would love to see in the coming season. Our Sailors are always at the forefront of new initiatives on and off the pitch to elevate the scene in Singapore, so I am hopeful some of these changes will happen. What the Sailors Did Well Last Season Our 2023 season can be described as solid, with our first Singapore Cup title as well as credible performances in the ACL against some of the best teams in Asia. Off the pitch, Sailors have also done well in a number of areas: Communication with Fans Over the past season, I think the club has done a commendable job at communicating with fans in general, as we receive frequent updates and content through email newsletters and social media. Every matchday we are inundated with matchday content, pre-match videos and interviews before the game, live updates during the game, and match recaps post-game. We also enjoyed quality content in other areas, as we got to see players and staff not just in a football context. Things like Mothers’ Day videos and articles, the International Womens’ day articles (one of which won Story of the Year at the FAS Awards Night), fun and games on tiktok etc. clearly took plenty of effort to put together, so kudos to the team for bringing such a wide variety of content to us and I would love to see more of the same in the coming season. Matchday Experience A lot of work has also gone into crafting an enjoyable matchday experience for fans last season. There were several F&B options available at the stadium (beer, nachos, burgers, pizza) and we also saw a decent selection of merchandise on matchday (jerseys, training kits, t-shirts, keychains, tote bags etc.). The variety of halftime entertainment also brought some additional buzz into the stadium – contests for fans and performances (and T-SHIRT MAN) were good ways to bring some excitement into an otherwise boring 15-minute interval. Fan Engagement and Giveaways Throughout the season, we saw many contests and giveaways organized by the club, from match tickets and merchandise to fully sponsored away trips to ACL games. I was fortunate enough to be a recipient of a sponsored trip for the ACL away game in Hong Kong (paid for the other two away trips myself), and the experience certainly made me feel appreciated as a Sailors fan. All of these giveaways were not only fun to participate in but also presented an opportunity for the club to ‘pull’ more fans in. I could certainly see a casual follower being converted into a die hard fan if they won, say, a match ball signed by the whole first team. While plenty of good work has been done for fan engagement and the matchday experience, it would be great to see further improvements in these areas (just like how the team strives to improve on the pitch to compete against the best in Asia), which brings us to the next topic. Wishlist for Next Season Without knowing the inner workings of the club, I would make a reasonable assumption that the goals / objectives of the club off the pitch include building a strong fan community (increasing overall numbers of fans attending games as well as building a core group of highly engaged fans). With that in mind, there are a list of things that I would love to see in the upcoming season, based on anecdotal experience from talking to fellow fans and also experiencing league games in other countries. Greater Variety of Merchandise While the club has provided a decent selection of merchandise last season, I think there is still some demand for a greater variety of Sailors’ merchandise. It would be great to see a greater variety of apparel (polo tees, jackets, shorts) as well as smaller items that are easy to use in our daily lives (shoe bags, phone/airpod casing, pouches, luggage tags etc.). Perhaps even some novelty items such as trading cards or jigsaw puzzles? Most importantly, I hope to see a jersey printing/customization service made available on matchday as fans currently need to jump through quite a few hoops if they want to get any printing done for their jersey. I also noticed that not all the merchandise available on matchday was available on the Shopee store, so ideally we can see the full catalogue of merch available on Shopee in the coming season. In an era of rampant consumerism there are probably a good number of fans who are willing to spend on anything with a Sailors logo on it, so please Sailors, take my money. Wider Engagement of Fans and More Benefits for Season Pass Holders Season ticket holders are typically the most loyal supporters of any football club, turning up to almost every game rain or shine. It is thus essential to keep this

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