Coach Mano Polking finds it difficult to leave CAHN Club to lead Singapore team

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is undergoing a comprehensive restructuring under the leadership of new President Forrest Li - a prominent businessman with ambitions to elevate the island nation's football.

In the effort to find a new captain for the national team, the name of coach Mano Polking is being mentioned as one of the leading candidates.

According to many sources, FAS approached the head coach of the Hanoi Police Club after reviewing his impressive professional resume: winning the AFF Cup with Thailand, bringing the Hanoi Police Club (CAHN) to the podium at the Vietnam National Cup and winning the runner-up position in the Southeast Asian tournament in the 2024-25 season.

Mano Polking is the type of coach that Singapore lacks, someone with regional experience, a modern football philosophy and the ability to rebuild the team. However, this is not a simple decision.

In Vietnam, Coach Polking is not simply a successful coach. He is the core in the process of professionalization and building a long-term identity for CAHN - one of the football projects with the clearest strategic depth in the V-League today.

CAHN's leadership does not consider him a "foreign coach", but rather someone who helps create a long-term football direction: focusing on developing playing style, investing systematically in assistants, analyzing data, and improving the standards of team operations both on and off the field.

With the players, coach Mano Polking established a close connection, building a team culture based on discipline, trust and professionalism - a key factor in last season's success.

From a personal perspective, he is in a position of profound influence across the entire CAHN system. This is no longer a normal “coaching term”, but a fundamental role.

Singapore, on the other hand, can offer a stable working environment, attractive remuneration and the goal of reaching the World Cup or beyond. But the question is: which is the deeper challenge - reviving a team that has lost its way, or taking a growing team to the top of the region?

Although the final decision rests with coach Mano Polking, the choice is not simply between two teams. It is between two development philosophies, between restarting and continuing to perfect a project that is being built with passion.

After the final match of the Southeast Asian tournament, Coach Mano Polking proudly shared on his personal page about the brave fighting spirit of his students, a Hanoi Police team that clearly matured through each round.

And in that development journey, he is not only the driver, but also the architect who laid the first bricks, the one who built the foundation, for a team with aspirations to reach far.

With all the foundations gradually forming at CAHN, it will not be easy for him to leave a journey that he himself is the one who guides and inspires, a project that he not only leads but also entrusts his passion as a future creator, for a Vietnamese football club with the aspiration to reach the continental level.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-mano-polking-kho-chia-tay-clb-cahn-de-dan-dat-tuyen-singapore-20250730150139017.htm