Qormi president Apap pleads for patience

Qormi president Redino Apap remains confident his team will achieve their Championship Pool objective despite starting the Premier League season with a 3-1 defeat to rivals Ħamrun Spartans last weekend.

Saturday’s loss was a blow to the morale of the Qormi fans who have high hopes that their team will maintain the levels reached in 2009/10 but Apap pleaded for patience.

“Our team is still finding its feet after the significant player changes we had this summer,” Apap told a news conference at the KIA showroom yesterday.

“We have a virtually new squad compared to last season and the team clearly needs time to gel, so we must be patient.

“In my opinion, we have a very competitive squad that can make it to the Championship Pool. We have always kept our promises and I’m optimistic this team will give us a lot of satisfaction this season.”

This summer, Qormi only kept four first-choice players from the squad that finished fourth in the top flight last season and reached the final of the U*Bet FA Trophy.

Stefan Giglio, Jonathan Bondin and Matthew Bartolo have made their moves to Qormi permanent while Qormi have also acquired George Mallia, Cleaven Frendo, Luke Sciberras and Ben Camilleri.

Qormi, who appointed Stephen Azzopardi as their coach, have also signed South Korean midfielder Ho-Jung Kang, Serbian striker Kosta Bjedov and Belgian defender Jason Lee Vandelannoite.

Nigerian striker Abubakar Bello-Osagie, the first foreign player to secure a contract with Qormi for this season, has finally joined the team after visa complications delayed his journey to Malta.

Qormi are also hoping to receive the international clearance to register another foreign player, Brazilian defender Vinicius Da Silva.

Apap’s said from this season, the club have adopted a new policy of recruiting players on a permanent basis rather than on loan.

“In previous years, we brought in several players on loan deals but at the end of the season, we would end up with only five or six players who are owned by the club,” Apap said.

“This year, we changed our approach and made a huge effort to sign players on a permanent basis so that the coach can build on this squad for the future. Our objective is to ensure that Qormi FC remain competitive for many years to come and we feel that this is the way forward for the club.”

For his part, coach Azzopardi, who has had successful spells with Balzan Youths, Birkirkara and Sliema Wanderers, thanked the club’s committee for giving him the opportunity to coach their team and promised to do his utmost to lead Qormi to another successful season.

“I am truly honoured to have been given the opportunity to work for Qormi FC,” Azzopardi, who is also responsible for the club’s nursery, said.

“I have been working relentlessly to make sure the team reaches its best condition for the start of the league campaign. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have all the players for the whole period of preparation, so we’re still trying to improve the fitness levels of the team.

“We were aware that the start of the league campaign would be difficult for us but I’m heartened by the team’s efforts in the match against Ħamrun. Hopefully, we will start to pick up points from our next match against Vittoriosa Stars.”