Sports Minutes: Will Balestier Khalsa's off-pitch push translate to on-pitch striders? | 26/27 Singapore Premier League

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Sports Minutes with Zia-ul Raushan on MoneyFM 89.3.

Zia-ul Raushan (0:05)

MoneyFM 89.3, it's time for Sports Minutes with me, Zia-ul Raushan. Now it's a matter of days away, The Singapore Premier League is finally getting underway this weekend. Storylines are plenty, none bigger than the quite sudden departure of Sailor's head coach, Jesus Casas, which means four of the eight teams competing this season will have a new head coach in the dugout. Out with the old, in with the new? Not quite, because in the studio today is a man who has stood the test of time. Brief pit stops in Haugang and Kelantan aside, he is a tiger through and through, he's the head coach of Balestier Khalsa, Marko Kraljevic. But it's not all about the old guard because he's alongside Navin Nambiar, a name and face known within the fraternity, and now bringing fresh new energy and marketing dollars to Balestier Khalsa, as part of the senior management team. Gentlemen, welcome to the show, How Are You Doing? Marko, we start with you.

Marko Kraljevic (1:00)

Thank you for having me. So far, so good, you know. It's pre-season, it's doing well, and then waiting for the kickoff season.

Zia-ul Raushan (1:08)

Yeah, I'm sure you're excited for the kickoff. Navin, bringing you in, I said new energy. Bring that same energy to this show. Tell me how you're doing.

Navin Nambiar (1:16)

Hi Raushan, thank you so much for having me. I'm doing great. Just so happy to be a part of Balestier Khalsa for the coming season. I was a part of the management team last season as well, but I think I've been much more involved this season with sponsorship deals and what not. We can go into further detail later on.

Zia-ul Raushan (1:32)

I can't wait to unpack all that you are doing behind the scenes for Balestier Khalsa. Marko, you sort of touched on to it. You can't wait for the season to start. Coach, you've been around for a long time. We've established that. In fact, I think if you count years alone, you are the now longest serving manager in our league.

Marko Kraljevic (1:49)

Any price?

Zia-ul Raushan (1:51)

I will speak to the FA about getting a price for you. Maybe Navin can help out with the price. But let me ask you this. Is the excitement still the same when you head into a new season?

Marko Kraljevic (2:02)

Always. I mean, every season is different season. Every season, you're looking forward for the next one. And always what we've done last year, we tried to do better this year and then it's always rolling.

Zia-ul Raushan (2:16)

You tried to do better than last season. Last season, Balestier Khalsa finished fourth. We'll talk about the ambitions for this season in a short while, but bringing Navin into the conversation. Navin Bro, I went into your Instagram before this interview and your IG bio reads, Husband, father, sportsman, businessman, educator, gamer, foodie.

And now you're part of the Tigers family as well.

Navin Nambiar (2:40)

That's right.

Zia-ul Raushan (2:41)

How many hours a day do you have? And also, please explain, what is your role with Balestier Khalsa?

Navin Nambiar (2:48)

Alright, let's start with the Instagram part first. I wear many hats, as you rightfully mentioned. I'm an adjunct lecturer at Nanyang Poly. I've been teaching there for 10 years. I cover marketing, sports management, public relations, brand management, sports sponsorship and quite a number of courses.

So that's the education part of things. I'm also the managing director of a company called the X League. It's a social football league that's been running for more than 10 years in Singapore. Apart from that, I sit on a couple of boards, one of which is the Association of Muslim Professionals. And I do a lot of community work in that sense.

What else is there?

Zia-ul Raushan (3:29)

Sportsmen, businessmen?

Navin Nambiar (3:31)

So I think a lot of people always ask me how do I manage my time. And the truth is, my calendar looks like a rainbow, to be honest. But I need to adjust things accordingly so that I can try to accommodate as much as I can. For me, it's always being on the go and trying to do things, do better things in life.

I think, with regards to Balestier, if you ask me, personally, I was a youth player with Balestier when I was 16 years old. And for me, it's a little bit of a homecoming. The senior management team is also made out of other people who were past youth league players as well with Balestier. So they feel for the club and these are the kind of people you want to bring on to try to elevate the club and do better things.