UPDATE: Singapore Cup final to go on after initial fears
UPDATE: The RHB Singapore Cup final will go on after Global Cebu settled a pay dispute with their players.
Speaking after a players’ meeting with the club’s management, Global captain Misagh Bahadoran revealed that issues have been ironed out.
“This was a misunderstanding between the club and us players, and I’m glad to say the problem has been fixed, and we will be flying to Singapore tomorrow,” he said, declining to reveal details of the solution.
Bahadoran believes that despite the club's difficulties, Global have enough to beat S.League champions Albirex on Saturday.
“We are coming to win the Cup Final, there’s nothing else on our mind."
ORIGNAL STORY: The RHB Singapore Cup Final has often been the finale to the S.League season - encapsulating the romance of a cup competition where minnows have a shot against the big guns - and the last match on the local football calendar.
But this Saturday's final between Albirex Niigata and Global Cebu may not even take place.
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is planning an extravaganza to close what has been an uncertain 2017, but the Philippine side may not even show up in Singapore.
Sources revealed that Global players are still owed wages, some of them for up to six months, and players are refusing to get on the plane if they are not paid at least a month of what is owed to them.
Speaking to The New Paper, Global captain Misagh Bahadoran confirmed that a cloud is indeed hanging over the club, but is something that can be surmounted.
"This year we are going through a difficult time. There are just two players owed six months' salary, most of us are owed between four and five months' (wages)," said the Philippines international.
"But I don't think the management will let that (boycott of the Singapore Cup final) happen.
"I've been with Global for about seven years now, and sometimes salaries will be late, but you never see players not get what is owed to them."
Bahadoran revealed earlier this afternoon that he was en route to a meeting with the club's management to address this specific issue, with other sources confirming that the management was due to meet its backroom staff later in the day.
TNP understands that Global are in the process of a management change.
Bahadoran believes that despite difficulties, Global have enough to beat Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League champions Albirex if they do find their way to Singapore.
"We have good players, and a strong team. Once we step onto the field, we will get the job done. When we last came to Singapore, we brought only 13 players, but we still won the game," he said.
Global faced Hougang United in a two-legged semi-final in September with only 13 players on its roster - due to registration issues - but beat the Cheetahs 4-3 on aggregate.
"We are having a hard time now, but we were having a similarly hard time last year," said Bahadoran on the issue of late wages.
"But we still won the (Philippine) championship and the cup."
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