Malaysian Super League: Bojan Hodak and Nenad Bacina join Johor Darul Takzim teams

JOHOR BARU - A raft of changes in coaching and management staff have been made at Malaysian Super League (MSL) side Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) I and their sister club, JDT II, which play in the second-tier Malaysian Premier League.

In a press release today (Feb 25), the Johor Football Association announced that Bojan Hodak, the former Kelantan coach who took the team to the treble - the league crown, the Malaysia Cup and the FA Cup- in 2012 has been appointed team manager of JDT I.

He takes over from Spaniard Cesar Jiminez who was coach and team manager previously. The Johor FA felt that Bojan’s knowledge of Malaysian football and his better command of the English language compared to Jiminez, will be an advantage.

Bojan who has been without a club after he left Kelantan at the end of last season, told TODAY that he is happy with the appoinment and his immediate task is to get the players to understand the messages Jiminez wants to drive home.

“We acknowledge that Jiminez speaks English with a heavy Spainish accent which the players sometimes don’t understand,” said the Croat.

“Maybe I can help but at the end of the day the results are important.”

JDT I are known as the Manchester City of the MSL after splashing out the cash to hire former Valencia coach Jiminez, former Argentinian internationals Pablo Aimar and Luciano Figueroa and Singapore internationals Hariss Harun and Baihakki Khaizan.

But it’s the movements at JDT II which is being skippered by Singapore’s Shahril Ishak which is attracting more attention.

A trio of Croatian coaches - Rajko Magic, former Tampines Rovers coach Nenad Bacina, and Antonio Sisic, the former Kedah coach- have been appointed to helm the team.

The 59-year old Rajko, a former coach with Chinese Premier League side Shandong Luneng and also the assistant coach at Dinamo Zagreb, is now the head coach, taking over from Azmi Mohammad who will remain as assistant coach.

Nenad who had a short season with Tampines Rovers last year, will assist Rajko while Sisic is the goalkeeping and fitness coach.

“I am all right with the latest arrangement. That’s football and I believe I can learn from the experience of Rajko,” said Azmi.