KUCHING: After nearly a decade since leaving Sarawak, Alan Vest is back in town and certainly not forgotten.

The mercurial Yorkshireman, who brought football in the State to the pinnacle of success in the country from 1990 to 1998, was immediately recognised by the staff when he checked into Holiday Inn Kuching where he stayed during his coaching stint here.

He is on a week’s visit at the invitation of Sarawak State Sports Council’s Coaching and Development Unit during which he will conduct coaching clinics.

Today, he will hold sessions for the Youth Under-14 and U-17 teams and on July 11, conduct a coaching clinic for teachers at the State Stadium complex.

He will also be attending Sarawak’s home Malaysia Cup match against Selangor tonight.

During his watch, Sarawak won the FA Cup in 1992 and the League title in 1997.

Met at Holiday Inn yesterday, Vest discounted any second long-term involvement with Sarawak football, saying he was now ‘semi-retired’ although still active with the development of the game and would assist in any capacity where his experience was needed.

Recalling that New Year’s Eve when he first set foot in Kuching, he said he was a bit ‘disoriented’ as he had never heard of Sarawak before and was tempted to catch the next flight home.

But he chose to stay and that decision was to prove crucial – literally transforming Sarawak, then dubbed the whipping boys of Malaysian football, into a force to be reckoned with at the top level of the game in the country.

“It’s wonderful to be back,” said Vest, who was last here about five years ago as assistant coach with A-League side Perth Glory.

Before Vest took up the Sarawak job, Selangor were also in the race to sign him.

Speculations surrounding their desperation to grab him prompted one newspaper headline to prematurely declare: ‘Selangor has signed Alan Vest’.

But he opted to stay with Sarawak because Selangor did not accede to his terms of choosing the foreign players he preferred. Selangor’s loss was Sarawak’s gain.

According to Vest, John Hunter, who he signed as a striker and a favourite with fans, is now a coach in Australia while defender Jeff Curran is a postman in Glasgow.

He said he was sad to see the present state of football in Sarawak but pointed out that problems existed in football associations everywhere.

“Even a top club like Perth Glory have now slid to the bottom,” he noted.