ALOR STAR – Kedah Darul Aman FC’s majority shareholder has confirmed that the club are facing financial woes, resulting in the players, coaches and team officials not being paid their salaries since August.
Tan Sri Mohd Daud Bakar said they have settled part of the August salary for all players and team officials and plans are afoot to pay off the remaining month’s salary, while the wages for September will be settled next month.
“I apologise to all KDA FC supporters for my weakness, which resulted in less encouraging performances. As the owner, I take full responsibility for all financial issues faced by KDA FC.
“Insya-Allah, we are trying as much as possible to overcome this situation through various methods by targeting for normal salary payment to resume in December. Until then, we will ensure that salary payments are not overdue by more than two months,” he told a media conference here today.
Asked about the actual cause of Kedah FC’s financial woes, the owner denied certain perceptions and claims that it was due to leakages or sponsors pulling out.
Instead, he stressed that it was due to a mismatch between income and expenses, whereby the team’s current monthly expenditure exceeded their income.
“I emphasise, (that) no sponsor has withdrawn, just that some of the sponsors have their own problems and are making less payments to us or in stages. But they have committed to completing the sponsorships as promised,” he said.
Daud said that to overcome Kedah’s cash flow problem, they are working on getting funds and attracting sponsorships to strengthen their financial resources, in addition to offering shares in the team to interested parties.
He is also willing to give up all his shares in the club if there are any parties interested in taking over.
He is also considering introducing a new business model for Kedah FC to overcome and avoid such financial woes from recurring, adding that details of the model would be announced later. – October 28, 2023