KUCHING: Former Kedah coach Robert Alberts arrived in Sarawak ‘secretly’ shielded by Sarawak FA officials for talks with FAS top officials over his interest to take up the job as coach of the Sarawak Premier League side.

When contacted over the telephone, Alberts, whose contract with FAM as director of coaching ends next month, said although he was interested to take up the job, he must find out if the Sarawak officials and him agree on various aspects on his terms.

“I will discuss with the Sarawak officials on what directions the Sarawak football wants to take and we must share one view, one same target.

“Things like whether they agree to my technical plan so that once we agree there is no necessity to lose focus to prevent a situation where if I want to go one way, the FAS wants to go the other way.

“We must not speak in different terms and if we accept that I will be signing the contract soon,” said Alberts.

Alberts also pointed out that among his three options he will discuss with the Sarawak officials are whether they agree to stabilised the team with local imports and start the rebuilding process slowly.

He said although Sarawak need not necessary set the target of immediately going back to the Super League in one season, they needed to see the needs to provide a path for Sarawak to take and not go straight back to the bottom.

FAS should also come up with plans and willing to cut through the bureaucracy to ensure development as he believed there are plenty of talent in places like Bintulu or Miri where he had travelled to while here a couple of times.

“FAS must be willing to take the direction of helping to develop football and I’ve seen there are plenty of talent in places like Bintulu or Miri but these talent must be further developed as a player for raw talent is not enough.

“Also the problems with FAM and the whole of Malaysia and not only in Sarawak is that football development is very much neglected.

“I see it as a big challenge if I take up the job in Sarawak to be helping out in development as the neglect is everywhere in the whole country.”

Alberts said he had a “fantastic” time while he was in Kedah not only in winning trophies like the Malaysia Cup among them but having a hand in helping out in setting up a development structure and the talent that are evident in the Kedah team today were fruits of their labour many years back during his time with the side.

Sarawak FA secretary general Abu Bakar Marzuki, when contacted, confirmed the arrival of Alberts in Kuching yesterday was for discussions with the intention of signing the coach to take up the Sarawak job.

“He should be signing on the first week of November as his contract with FAM expired at the end of this month.

“His visit here is to have discussions on his contract and he needs to also take a look at the facilities to acquaint him with the job,” said Abu Bakar.

If Alberts takes up the job, he would be given the role of choosing the players for the State team from the Sarawak Cup as well as picking those from the shadow squad which had been formed earlier, added Abu Bakar.