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Kevin Grech
Floriana FC president Tony Zahra has refused to answer questions put to him by MaltaToday after he first accepted to be interviewed by this newspaper on his club’s dismal performance this season.
An angry Zahra called MaltaToday’s sports journalist in a telephone conversation “crazy” after receiving questions which dealt with comments he placed in the club website, in which he said the premier team of Floriana “is in a crisis”, blaming the club’s players.
Zahra refused to answer this newspaper on whether he could prevent Floriana from dropping to the First Division, as the team hangs on to dear life in the bottom rungs halfway through the season.
His reactions to MaltaToday’s questions revealed the extent of the problems facing the once glorious team.
Zahra refused to answer questions relating to comments he wrote in the club website.
In the club’s website Zahra claims Floriana could only be champions of Malta if they played only friendlies “since we win every friendly” because the Floriana players don’t seem to perform when they play the premier matches at Ta’ Qali.
“There seems to be a mental block when it comes to Ta’ Qali.”
Zahra also wrote in the club website he was “very unhappy with the performance of the foreign players – it is unacceptable that these players who are full-time professionals do not perform at a far higher standard than the Maltese players. These players represent around 25 per cent of the total wage bill and in addition receive free accommodation and free meals. Indeed one can say they are being treated like royalty…”
sports@mediatoday.com.mt
Tony Zahra’s comments on www.florianafc.com
This morning I was asked whether Floriana FC is in a crisis ...
13th September 2005
This morning I was asked whether Floriana Football Club is in a crisis and I replied very clearly that Floriana Football Club is not in a crisis but the Premier team of Floriana is in a crisis.
Let me explain. In the last 12 months Floriana has :
1. Acquired the most advanced and probably the best and only 9 a side synthetic turf surface in Malta (it can also be used as 3 x 5 a side pitches) .
2. Is at present undergoing full implementation to reseed the full size pitch with natural turf. We are in fact awaiting for the temperature to fall below 25 degrees C. so that we can reseed.
3. Has started a process which will lead to new dressing rooms and committee plus social rooms to be built at the Xaghra.
4. The committee has met every Tuesday at 5.45pm at the Xaghra with a full agenda and sometimes meets more then once a week.
5. All the players have received a full month's pay (and some of them more) and this at the end of June, July and August 2005 - something of a record for Floriana in the last few years. Remember every month we pay circa LM6,000 in wages !!!!!
6. We have had many new signings including Simon Agius - David Farrugia - Ian Ciantar - Keith Fabri and others that have asked us to come to Floriana and we have said No Thank You.
7. We have an excellent under 19 team under the direction of Dennis Cauchi.
8. We have an excellent Nursery that will produce big names for Floriana under the chairmanship of Hugh Peralta and his hardworking team.
So where is the crisis?? The crisis is with the players. There should not be a crisis when you consider that we have 5 players that are regulars with the under 21 of Malta and we have 2 players that are with the National team.
Floriana could be Malta Champions if we played only friendlies since we win every friendly. We seem to only when we play competitive matches at Ta Qali. It seems that our players do not perform when they are at Ta Qali. There seems to be a mental block when it comes to Ta Qali.
However let me also state clearly that I am very unhappy with the performance of the foreign players - it is unacceptable that these players who are full time professionals do not perform at a far higher standard than the Maltese players. These players represent about 25 per cent of the total wage bill and in addition receive free accommodation and free meals. Indeed one can say that they are being treated like royalty - but they are returning to Floriana what we are investing in them and are not performing to expectations.
There are Maltese players that are not producing - but let us be positive. We have now a new Technical Director Jan Artz - an ex National Team player with the Dutch National Team who played in the World cup of Mexico. I believe that Jan can and will bring back the glory days to Floriana. Let all the committee, supporters and players give our full backing to Jan.
I know it is difficult to ask supporters to be patient, I, like you, sometimes wonder whether it is worthwhile to go to the stadium and see our team being beaten like we were beaten last Saturday against Msida, but let us have faith, let us believe in ourselves, and let us support the coach and the committee in what they are trying to achieve.
It is a time when every Floriana supporter should be contributing positively, there are too many negative comments, let us stop pointing fingers and let us all make constructive suggestions.
With patience and good decisions we shall get there and we shall be back to our glory days again. Let us all rally round our coach, our committee and our team for next Saturdays match against Hamrun.
MaltaToday’s questions to Mr Zahra
According to your article in Floriana’s official website you stated that Floriana FC is not in a crisis but the Floriana Premier team is in a crisis, can you explain this?
Floriana is investing a lot of money in better training facilities, do you think the fans are appreciating all this or are they just seeing the BOV Premier League standings?
With a team consisting of five regulars in the U21 National team and two on the National team, you are insisting that the crisis of Floriana are with the players. From the President of the team this is a harsh comment, can you explain this?
Also your foreign players are not performing well. They are being paid very well (probably much more than Maltese players) and are employed as full time professionals. Do you believe that Floriana should cut back on foreign players and invest in local talent?
Do some local players complain about to much preference given to the foreign players?
The way it is looking this year, Floriana looks sure to go down to Division one, do you see a chance of gaining ground this season to prevent the drop?
The players are obviously hearing how you feel about them, do you think they might look at you as President in a negative way?
Do you communicate with the players and tell them how you feel, face to face?
And do you think the results are a reflection of a crisis in the committee?
Valletta are another team like Floriana with a large history of league titles. They are not clear of the drop either, do you see them having the same crisis as Floriana?
Does Floriana FC have a plan to rebuild the team from scratch, if they go down to First Division football?
Do you think a taste of the competitive football in Division One will give the team a new life?
As President what immediate changes are going to take place to try to get the team winning again?
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