IN their darkest hour, Perak have turned to one of the brightest minds in Malaysian football, Lim Teong Kim, to turn things around.
Despite a storied past, the eight-time Malaysia Cup champions have deteriorated to an all-time low in the past two years.
The first team to win the FA Cup back in 1990 and twice league winners, Perak were ignominiously relegated for the first time in their proud history from the top tier league in 2021.
And even in the second division, the Premier League, the Silver State finished second last in the table last year.
It was a result that would have sent them down to the M3 division, and further humiliation if not for the restructuring of the M-League.
Now, following the high profile signing of Teong Kim as their head coach, Perak are banking on the former Bayern Munich youth coach, to get them out of their doldrums.
Teong Kim, who was one of Malaysia's top national players in the 1980s and 1990s, honed his coaching skill in Germany. And later he was also in charge of the National Football Development Programme.
And interestingly for the first time, Teong Kim will manage a team in the Super League.
For the 59-year-old, the responsibility is much more than just producing results on the pitch.
Teong Kim said he is under no illusion of the massive task at hand, but at the same time he is excited at the prospect of revolutionising things in Perak.
"It's not just about executing things on the pitch but it is also building a culture of football for this club," said Teong Kim.
"Everyone is aware of the situation here before but right now if you go to the dressing room, it looks like a dressing room. It's not optimal but better than what it was.
"We are developing and trying to inculcate a football culture. After training we try to put back the grass and we're at the moment doing that ourselves. The coaches are doing it too.
"All these are education and new to Malaysian football except for one club (JDT)."
At Perak, Teong Kim is placing importance in promoting young players in a squad of largely unknown players going into a season where results may be inconsequential given that there is no relegation
Amid the realm of competitive football where wins and points have a huge significance, Teong Kim feels there is also a need for a bigger picture and taking the new season as part of a building block while trusting the process with actions on the pitch playing a pivotal role.
Similar to what is being harnessed by national team Kim Pan Gon, Teong Kim also wants the fans to associate his Perak side with passion and desire, while producing entertaining football for all to savour.
"My expectations are that we want to play good and entertaining football but as well we want to be successful.
"We want the crowd to come in and support us, and after that they should go home with a happy mind that they see a good team playing football. Maybe we might lose the game but we play good football.
"Of course we want to win the games but sometimes you can have 80 per cent ball possession but you can still lose the game. As a coach of course I want to win while playing good football but that won't always be the case.
"That's the facts of football. Sometimes you play good football, you lose. But we want the fans to be happy and enjoy the game. Of course sometimes we might not have the luck and lose the game. But the point is that the fans must enjoy the game.
"They must learn to appreciate good football, entertaining football with hard running, with passion, with enthusiasm and good spirit."
Teong Kim is still working towards bolstering the squad but has managed to secure what is considered their main man for the new campaign with the signing of Hadi Fayyadh.
Having spent four years in Japan with Fagiano Okayama and then Azul Claro, Hadi has gained valuable experience abroad but that has not been matched with minutes on the pitch, and which ultimately cost him a place with the national team.
Yet Hadi has a believer in Teong Kim who appreciates his quality on the field and sees the 23-year-old striker as someone who has the capability to shine in Malaysian football provided patience is afforded to him.
"Well he's a good player and I know he can help us. So when he's available, it doesn't make sense for us to let him go somewhere else.
"He has good football understanding, good ability, he holds the ball very well and can set up teammates to score. He has been with us only the last couple of days. He needs time to adapt.
"He has been away from Malaysian football for a while and he will get all the time he needs. Same goes for Christian (Obiozor of Nigeria).
"I understand the adaptation of players, that is not an issue for me. Every human adapts differently, some quicker some slower, being a human I understand all these," said Teong Kim.
Additions have also been made elsewhere with legendary Perak striker V. Saravanan returning to the fold after a long time in Finnish football.
Starting their season with a home fixture against Kedah on Feb 25, it will be a baptism of fire for Teong Kim in charge of his first Super League game.
Despite many questioning his capability to handle a senior team in a competitive environment, the Melaka-born was at pains to stress that unlike his previous roles, the responsibility this time around is comparatively simpler.
"It's more difficult to coach junior teams than senior teams. I'm sure the boys have learned so much these past couple of months.
"It's more difficult to coach young players because they don't have the playing time. You have to form them and mould them. Whereas senior players have gone through the motion.
"When you come to senior football, it's all about results. For any senior team, fans always want to win.
"But they also understand that as long as you play good football, fight, work hard, run for 90 minutes but still lose the game, do you think the fans will still be disappointed?
"They will be disappointed with the result but not the performance of the players. As long as they are doing that, I don't see any problem at all.
"Maybe the management wants to see the team win all the time, I have no problem with that. I've played football for so many years with all kinds of stress.
"If I get sacked, I get sacked, so what? This is part and parcel of a football coaching job, no problem.
"But the most important thing is that the players like to play the game, they enjoy playing the game, they work hard - these are more satisfying for me," he added.
Perak will be one of the teams to watch this season, not only to see how they perform on the pitch but making that transition to a modern-day professional football club. And Teong Kim is there to turn the wheels of that revolution.
