DOLLAH Salleh attained his first coaching experience when he joined the now-defunct MPPJ FC in 2003 as the assistant coach to Reduan Abdullah.
The 50-year-old later replaced Reduan as the chief coach the same season and subsequently the former international led the club to the Malaysia Cup.
Dollah, the newly appointed national coach, and Reduan will be reunited as the latter has been named as assistant coach.
Former Johor midfielder Wan Mustaffa Wan Ismail is the other assistant coach while former international Omar Salim has been named goalkeeper coach.
The 62-year-old Reduan, who coached Premier League side Perlis this season, and the other coaches will report to Dollah on August 1.
The national trainees will report for centralised training the same day for an international friendly match against Tajikistan on Aug 6.
“I must thank Dollah for giving me a chance to assist him in preparing the national team for assignments. Frankly, I only knew about it after the FA of Malaysia made it official today.” said Reduan yesterday.
“I accept this as a challenge. I will meet Dollah soon to get a better picture of my duties.”
Reduan’s appointment comes as a surprise as the former international was suspended 12 months by FAM for criticising the national body in 2009.
It was a bad experience then for Reduan as he was also left without a job after Felda terminated his contract.
Reduan, who represented the national team between 1973 and 1981, was the assistant coach of Selangor in the late-1980 before becoming head coach of MPPJ.
He also helped Felda United earn promotion from the FAM League in 2006 before his suspension three years later.
As for Wan Mustaffa, he had playing stints with Johor and Selangor, and was assistant coach of Premier League outfit Universiti Teknoloji Malaysia this season.
Omar was Johor’s goalkeeper between 1989-98 and also had a stint with the national team in the 1992 Merdeka Tournament.
FAM general-secretary Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said Dollah had recommended Reduan and others to the national body recently.
“We trust Dollah has picked the right candidates. It is important that he has a good working relationship with his assistants,” said Hamidin.
The national team officials — Team manager: Datuk Sudarsono Osman; Assistant manager: Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin; Coach: Dollah Salleh; Assistants: Reduan Abdullah and Wan Mustaffa Wan Ismail; Goalkeeper coach: Omar Salim; Fitness trainer: Reuben Jude; Doctor: Mohd Zaidi Salleh; Physiotherapist: S. Sivanasvaran; Masseur: Zaidi Abdul Latib; Kitman: R. Sivakumar. By Ajitpal Singh