A GOOD start for Selangor and I hope it will continue until we win the Malaysia Cup again.
That's my resolution for the New Year. It may be premature, but I always tend to look on the bright side.
However, there was a period when I certainly didn't expect things to be so "bright" for me - a time when I thought it best for me to walk out of the Selangor Malaysia Cup squad. But that's under the bridge now after having had a serious discussion with coach Chow Kwai Lam.
Secretly, I was hoping that these officials would drop me from the initial training squad of 45. But a brief and meaningful heart-to-heart talk with Kwai Lam has cleared the air, at least for me.
I walked up to him one day during training and asked: "Kwai Lam, be honest with me. Tell me whether you do really need me in the team. I don't want to claim a place in the team just because I was captain this season or because of my years of service to Selangor.
"Please ignore what I have done for Selangor in the past. If you have to drop me, please do so."
Kwai Lam, without hesitation, replued: "Yes, I still need you, plus Santokh Singh, R. Arumugam, Reduan Abdullah and Jamaluddin Norbit."
But getting the nod from Kwai Lam doesn't mean that I can sit back and take it easy during training and expect an automatic place in the starting 11. It's going to be much harder for me to keep pace with the young and eager-beaver players in the squad.
Age is catching up with me. So, too, are my weary legs, especially the right knee injury that I have been suffering from since March. Sometimes I wonder whether I can last the season with a handicapped knee. But my hunger to play football and see Selangor through has kept me going.
I have promised my wife that if I fail to last with Selangor until end of the season, then I'll give up the game for good. It's no use trying to cheat myself just because I have over a hundred international caps. It amounts to nothing if I can't do things which a younger player is capable of.
But until that moment of truth, I am bent on helping Selangor win the Malaysia Cup for the third successive year.
The younger players coming through the ranks for the new season are an enthusiastic lot and this should encourage Kwai Lam. I dare say that even if senior players like Santokh, Reduan and Jamaluddin and myself cannot make it to the first 11, Kwai Lam can still rely on up-an-coming players like Lim Teong Kim, Sallehuddin Sidek, M. Pillay, Razali Alias, Zainal Vellapan and P. Dharmalingam to keep the flame burning for Selangor.
Winger Zainal Velappan is one player who has impressed me ever since I played with him in this season's Malaysia Cup. He has put on more muscle and is a lot skilful now. But one drawback is that he is still a one-legged player - strong with his left foot.
It's puzzling, though, why a skilful and speedy midfielder like Sallehuddin has been ignored by FAS selectors for such a long time. Perhaps, now that he is in the squad, he would get his chance to make his presence felt.
Razali Alias, the former Singapore youth international now playing for Sultan Suleiman Club in the Selangor Premier Division, had chalked up goals in the FAM Cup with the regularity of a ticking taxi-meter. He should be another asset to the Selangor midfield.
When the pre-season training started, I had this feeling that the younger players in the squad might find Kwai Lam's belligerent approach too tacky. But surprisingly, Kwai Lam is no longer the man I used to dub Mr Fiery Tongue.
He has mellowed but that doesn't mean he has gone soft. Gone are those harsh words which in the past had upset a few players. Instead, what I have seen so far is a tactful and patient Kwai Lam.
Even his training methods have changed. In the past, we were told to run for hours without a ball at our feet. Now, he has instructed us to do our sprinting exercises with the ball. This refreshing change has helped us to develop a better control of the ball when running at top speed.
Kwai Lam, I'm sure, will get us ship-shape to face the new season starting next week.