KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — Stuart Ramalingam has a lot to do to convince the football affiliates in the country to get on board with the Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) F:30 plan and they’re planning a meet with all stakeholders in November to make this a reality.

The 12-year plan is set from 2019-2030 in order to build a roadmap for Malaysia’s future footballing excellence.

"There’re two main areas where we aim to bring the affiliates together,” said FAM general secretary Stuart to members of the press after the launch of the F:30 plan at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

"Many have asked me is it a success or not if the affiliates don’t get involved and to answer that I’ll give you an example.

"Put two Manchester United fans in a room and they can argue about everything from tactics to Mourinho’s antics even though they support the same team.

"In the same manner, we’re stupid and ignorant if we think they’ll follow us 100 per cent. However, if we have eight affiliates follow us, that’s eight more than we had yesterday.

"Is our direction right for the affiliates to follow? Only time will tell, but at least, it’s a start towards a collective pathway.”

Stuart and FAM are planning a General Secretary (GS) workshop to educate these affiliates on their plan and it will be done in November while also setting a date to meet the affiliate presidents as well.

"We’re meeting the presidents of the affiliates on November 12 and we have the GS workshop, which hasn’t been done in years, on the 24th,” said Stuart.

"We’re hoping to build closer ties with them. One of the president’s initiatives that’ll be launched soon puts the responsibility of FAM to work closely with the affiliates and not standing away from them.

"A lot of the issues we have with affiliates are their members change, presidents change, and sometimes, all the exco members change. They lose the experience, intelligence and information when this happens. Case in point the yearly club licensing renewal.

"When a new committee takes over, they need to be taught how to do this as they do not know the procedures.”

Another pertinent question posted to Stuart was what happens if FAM president Datuk Hamidin Ali and his constituents aren’t in office in the future? What’s to become of this 12-year plan?

"In 12 years, it’s almost impossible for me to be here and it’s proven through history. We hope this sets us on a pathway,” said Stuart

"The next management need not stick to this pathway but maybe we’d have built a foundation strong enough for the next group to build on.

"Whether they launch a different plan all together, it’s their prerogative. It is my hope that me and Hamidin put FAM on a stronger foundation. The plan doesn’t belong to us but the organisation and the organisation can take it forward.

"The plan is to play better football by developing better teams and the end goal is to qualify the World Cup. First, we have to win at the Asean level then qualify for Asia only then we can discuss the World Cup.

"If at the Under-17 and 20, we can’t qualify for the World Cup, we can’t think about the senior men’s team. If we’re consistent like Japan or South Korea in playing at junior World Cups, then we can think about it.

"Hence, the three phases of development. In each stage, we’ll have bench-marking to put us on the best plan for the next cycle.”