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Choo Seng Quee is arguably Singapore's greatest football coach. He brought Singapore football to great heights, especially during the 1970s. This larger-than-life footballing icon had already made a name for himself as a no-nonsense defender during the 1930s helping Singapore win the Malaya Cup on two occasions.

World War II disrupted his promising playing career, and after the war, he switched to coaching. In a coaching career spanning almost 30 years, he had several spells as coach of the Singapore national team (in addition to also coaching the Malaysian and Indonesian teams). Though his coaching methods were 'old school', based on hard work and discipline, success followed him wherever he went.

His brash manner, unfortunately, did not endear well with the powers who ran the Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA), a predecessor of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). This led him being thrown into football wilderness on several occasions. But that did not stop him from progressing in his coaching career. The football administrators from Malaysia and Indonesia took advantage of these moments of 'unemployment' by offering him financially attractive contracts to coach their respective teams, leading to years of success while Choo Seng Quee was at the helm.

This is the incredible story of this legend known to many as simply 'Uncle Choo' who instilled a sense of patriotism in his players. To him, wearing the Singapore jersey was a badge of honour.
Reynold Godwin Pereira was born in Singapore in 1964. He sat at the gallery stands with his father cheering on the Singapore national football team during the glorious 1970s, first at the Jalan Besar Stadium and then at the old National Stadium. He played football himself and trained with the Singapore Under-16 B team preparing for the Lion City Cup in 1979. But he did not make it into the final squad. He represented the Singapore Law Society veterans football team at the Lawyers World Cup in Alicante, Spain in 2008. He is a qualified non-practicing lawyer. He now lives in Barcelona, Spain with his wife and spends his weekends cheering on his two boys who both play amateur football for local Spanish clubs. In his remaining spare time, he still plays football with a local veterans' team and also sings in a band. He is also the founder of the Facebook page, 'Nostalgic Singapore'. This is his first book.

Authors

Uncle Choo: Singapore's Greatest Football Coach