THE KING OF BRUNEI
Steve Kean was hounded out of Blackburn but now he’s mixing with royalty... and is top of the league!
STEVE KEAN’S chairman is on the way. Sirens wail and blue lights flash in the dusk. three motorcycle outriders roar into view, followed by a black BMW with a distinctive number plate.
From behind the wheel of the car skips the Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, eldest son of the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world’s richest men. His bodyguard has already swept the scene at the training ground.
this is Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota FC — or DPMM Brunei as they are known. they are a club quite unlike any other, and Kean, the 47-year-old former Blackburn Rovers manager, is deep into his second season as head coach.
‘You have one of the wealthiest people in the world and the club he started himself, 15 years ago,’ said Kean. ‘It is a blank sheet of paper. this is about forming an identity.
‘the Crown Prince has been a Liverpool fan all his life, brought up on teams that dominated possession. ever since I came over he’s talked about creating chances and scoring goals.’
Brunei is a tiny nation of 400,000 on the northern coast of Borneo, surrounded by Malaysia. DPMM compete in Singapore, where they are top of the 10-team S-League.
the 41-year-old Crown Prince wants DPMM to be ready for a Southeast Asian Super League, a perennial idea he believes is inching closer to reality.
that is why Stevekean — as most Bruneians seem to refer to him — is considered a key acquisition; someone to impose Premier League standards. Kean replaced the kickabout which passed for training with a structured programme, introduced ice-baths to the horror of his Bruneian players and protein supplements, which helped them during the fast of Ramadan.
Money is no object. the Crown Prince is heir to a fortune estimated at more than £10billion, based on the nation’s oil and gas reserves.
It is a coach’s dream to create a club from scratch with this financial backing and Kean has signed up until the end of next season.
Brunei is also a beautiful and tranquil country.
Its official name is Brunei Darussalam, which translates as ‘Abode of Peace’, and a post-match recovery session might be a shady stroll past the Sultan’s polo fields and 200 horses in air- conditioned stables for a gentle stretch on a palm-fringed beach and mobility exercises in the South China Sea.
this is, in every sense imaginable, a long way from Blackburn. IN polo shirt and slacks, the Crown Prince climbs the steps, shaking hands with Kean and club officials, who bow as another aide appears from thin air to park the BMW.
It has been another day busy day of royal duties, followed by a game of badminton, and DPMM are about to begin their evening training session.
the Crown Prince seldom misses it. At times he has even appeared in full military regalia, complete with ceremonial sword, having dashed from a state occasion.
‘His enthusiasm is incredible,’ said Kean. ‘ He showed me a schedule with 20 or 30 events on it, and told me it was like that every day. But he always blocks off time for training and the guys on the bikes get him there on time, rushing to get in, in case he’s missed anything.’
In nearly eight years at Fulham, Kean saw owner Mohamed al Fayed at training only three times. One was just before they sold Louis Saha to Manchester United, so it was not always a good sign.
At Blackburn, he had to fly to India to report to Anuradha Desai, the boss of venky’s, but at DPMM his chairman is never far away.
the Crown Prince attends every home game, often with his brother Prince Abdul Malik, and watches each training session from a sofa, through the plate glass window of a specially built, air- conditioned room by the training pitch.
the room, sited in a small stand, is furnished with royal opulence: crystal chandeliers, upholstered furniture, cabinets, lace curtains and heavy velvet drapes.
On the walls are framed football shirts, team photos and some trophies — including a replica of the Singapore League Cup, the team’s first major honour, which was won last year by Kean.
DPMM was formed in 2000, but its roots reach back to the days when the Crown Prince was an enthusiastic high school goalkeeper and Premier League fan hatching a plan to launch his country’s first professional football club. His passion for Liverpool still burns and he can recall watching Bruce Grobbelaar and Kenny Dalglish on television; of dropping in at Melwood during an official visit to england; of his one and only live game, while studying at Oxford.
Like any supporter, he acknowl- edges another busy summer of transfer activity at Anfield but is concerned they need more.
A new ambitious investor perhaps? His wealth would be in step with the oil-rich owners from ruling dynasties of Qatar and Abu Dhabi who have transformed Paris SaintGermain and Manchester City.
‘I prefer to stay here,’ smiled the Crown Prince. ‘ People ask if I’m interested in buying a club, but I am not someone for going away from Brunei. I like to stay here. We are building this club.
‘Our standard of football is quite low but we are trying to improve and attract fans. We have to teach them how to play. the local league does not have proper training. Brunei football was at a poor level when I decided to create this team.
‘We are the first professional team in Brunei. the coach is in his second season and he is helping us to start an academy. He is the first British coach we have had. He has brought good players.
‘Our most important players have come through him and we are playing with a 4-4-2 system for the first time. In the past it was always 3-5-2. Now we get lots of British players writing to ask for a trial.’ It is 9am and Stevekean and his team are beside a lavish buffet of every food imaginable inside one of the 1,788 rooms of Istana Nurul Iman, the world’s largest residential palace and home to the Sultan of Brunei.
the palace is open to the public for only three days a year to celebrate Hari Raya, the end-of-fast celebration.
In the afternoon, DPMM will take a two-hour flight to Singapore for their next S-League game but they start the day by joining thousands who file through the marble courtyards and exotic gardens to meet their 69-year-old monarch.
the Sultan and his family greet almost 100,000 visitors over three days and each leaves with a gift, children with a small bag containing 10 Brunei dollars, the equivalent of £4.50. Footballers are fasttracked to the front of the queue.
Kean has an englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman in his squad and they all thought it was the start of a joke when asked if they fancied playing in Brunei.
Brian McLean (a Scotland-born Northern Ireland international), Joe Gamble (formerly of Hartlepool and Cork City) and Craig Fagan ( who played in the Barclays Premier League with Hull) tell similar stories. they had no idea where Brunei was, but took the plunge and found facilities and the standard of football to be surprisingly good — akin to the lower echelons of the Football League.
DPMM pull home crowds of up to 15,000, the best in the league, in a handsome stadium big enough to hold twice as many. there are no regrets, not even for Fagan who
‘It’s a new club started by one of the world’s richest men’
‘The Prince sees all I do but never tries
to interfere’
snapped his achilles tendon in the fourth game of the season.
He has focused instead on studying for his A Licence, coaching DPMM’s Under 19 team and helping Kean with video analysis.
‘Knowing what I know now I would have played abroad sooner,’ said 32-year- old Fagan. ‘I had chances and passed, never gave it a second thought. It might be an ego thing. We all want to make it where we think it’s at, and we think that’s England.
‘It’s a totally different lifestyle. The weather’s the main thing. It’s over 30C every day. There’s no alcohol out here. It’s relaxed and friendly. There’s not much crime. There’s not a lot to do socially but there are some nice restaurants.
‘And they love the Premier League. They watch every game and want to know all about it. I’m nowhere near a big name but it feels like a big thing for them to have someone who’s played in the Premier League. It was surprising how much they knew about me.’
Once a fortnight, Kean is summoned to another palace in the capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan.
At the home of the Crown Prince, he provides an update on his team and they project the club’s future.
In public there is protocol. The head coach bows and greets his chairman as ‘Your Highness’ but this private setting is less formal.
‘Every time I go I see a different part of the palace,’ said Kean, whose family stayed in England because of school but are flown out by the club every six weeks.
‘It’s all marble and gold and no matter how hot it is outside, it will be ice cold in there. For an hour and a half, we sit and talk about football. We talk about players to sign, the progress of the local players, what we can do to develop the training ground and plans for the academy.
‘ He notices everything I do and asks why I did it because he wants to know, but he never tries to interfere. He wants to see progress.’
Most Bruneians support Liverpool, with its royal seal of approval, and the nation was gripped by the title race in 2014, when Steven Gerrard slipped and let in Manchester City.
‘Of course I was watching ’ said the Crown Prince. ‘The timing is great for us, kick- off at 10pm or 11pm, at the end of the day. That was a big chance. We should have won it, I think.’ THE ‘ Stevekean Selfie’ is on trend. Workers in the street want one, security guards at the stadium, fellow visitors in the banquet room at the Sultan’s palace and fans at the baggage carousel in Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Others want to shake his hand and wish him luck, or discuss the season in a gentle Bruneian way.
When his DPMM-red Volkswagen rolls up at the palace gates, the guards jump to it, whispering ‘Stevekean, Stevekean’ excitedly into their walkie-talkies.
He is not here for reinvention, he is here to sink his teeth into a unique project, but the kindness and unobtrusive nature of the Bruneians have made an impression.
For a man chased out of Blackburn amid strict budget cuts and vile personal abuse, this new life must be paradise.