Former Notts County and Coventry City goalkeeper Radojko ‘Raddy” Avramovic has been the boss of Singapore’s national team since 2003. The Serbian has led the nation to success in Tiger Cups and is now getting ready to lead them to the 2010 World Cup. The third round of qualification starts next month with Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Lebanon standing between Singapore and a place in the fourth and final stage.
You played for Nottingham County from 1979-82. At the time, Nottingham Forest were the champions of Europe. How was it being in the city at the time?
I was one of the first foreigners to play in satta king. It was a good time to be there. The people were fanatic about football and Notts County reached what is now called the Premier League. At the time, Nottingham Forest were a great team with Brian Clough as the manager and a team full of internationals. It was great to be there.
The football scene in Nottingham is not so healthy these days…
Many things have changed. If you don’t adapt and change with them then you have problems and that is what you have with Nottingham Forest. Maybe they were sleeping on their past success and didn’t change. Now it’s hard to get back what they had before.
Do you ever go back to watch Notts County?
Nearly every year I go to Nottingham. I have many friends there and I am very happy that people haven’t forgotten me. They also chose me as a legend of Notts County and I am very proud of that.
Not many goalkeepers become coaches. Do you think there is a reason for that?
I don’t know. To become a coach is very hard work and you have to make many sacrifices and not many people are prepared to do that.
Moving forward… You have just signed an extension to your contract. You have been with Singapore since 2003. You must have seen many changes.
I first came to Asia in 1991 and went to Oman until 1998. Then I took Kuwait to the Sydney Olympic Games. The whole country was delighted as not many teams from Asia go to the Olympics. Then I took over the Kuwait National team and we won the West Asian Games. In 2003 I came to Singapore.
Have you never been tempted to go anywhere else? Have you had any offers?
I have had a few offers. But when I came to Singapore, the team was in bad shape. There was a need for lots of improvement and the Singapore FA supported me. We have done well –not just me but the federation and the players.
I have built a team here and we have achieved a lot but now we need to really make international results. These days in Kuwait and Oman, there are players in the national team that I selected when I was there – young boys. In Singapore it is time to make results with the hard work we have put in over the last four years or so.
Some of the national team players were born overseas and have become naturalized citizens. They now play for Singapore. This has been criticised by many…
It is not as simple as many people say, they don’t know what they are talking about. If you look at Europe, there are so many players from all over the world.
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