Philippines Football League side Global FC have signed former Tampines Rovers coach Akbar Nawaz as technical consultant ahead of their 2017 AFC Cup zonal semi-final against Singapore's Home United.
Global owner Dan Palami believes that Nawaz's experience in leading his former side against Singapore clubs will help the team prepare for challenge against Home over the two-legged Asean semi-final. Notably, the defending PFL champions take on the Protectors in the first-leg in Manila on Tuesday.
"His [Akbar] ideas are useful to me personally - and to the club as well - and that is why I hired him as a technical consultant. His views and knowledge of Singapore clubs will be useful to us, too," Palami said, as quoted by The New Paper.
"We just started out national (professional) league, and we can not pretend to be experts in club management or even in the technical aspects of the game.
"I wanted a critique of my club from someone who has beaten us, and there are not many of those in the Philippines."
Akbar, who has started work with Global over the weekend, stepped down as Tampines' coach in January ahead of 2017 S.League season. The 41-year-old tactician saw the end of his tenure at the Singapore club when his side lost to Global in AFC Champions League preliminary round one match in January.
However, Akbar had led the S.League side to a 5-2 aggregate win over the Filipino side in last year's Singapore Cup quarter-final. The former Tampines tactician says he is delighted to help Global with their preparations and that he is hoping for a long-term association with the Filipino club.
"I am honoured to have been recruited as a technical consultant for the first team of Global. I would like to thank in particular the owner, Mr Dan Palami, for putting his trust in me to further develop and improve the first team," Akbar said.
"Global are a top team with many technically sound players and I'm looking forward to my time here. It is a short-term commitment over here in Manila as of now and I am hopeful of a longer tenure if my services are required thereafter."
