BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Negeri Sembilan on Wednesday announced that its president Dato' Seri Utama Mohamad Hasan has stepped down from the post.
The club's two vice presidents; Dato' Ab. Ghani Hassan and Dato' Haslah Amin have also relinquished their posts.
In the announcement that was made on its social media, the Deer added that Mohamad, who until recently was also the Negeri Sembilan state Menteri Besar (chief minister), had submitted his resignation letter earlier, and the decision was accepted by the executive committee in a meeting that was held on Wednesday.
The trio has also stepped down from all their posts at the club.
Although the reason for their decision was not revealed in the announcement, Malaysian football fans can already surmise the cause.
The post of football club presidents in the country are usually held by the menteri besar of the states they are based in, and the clubs are in turn funded using state money.
Mohamad (centre) with the Negeri squad during their 2018 season team announcement event back in January. Photo by Zulhilmi Zainal
Mohamad's political party recently lost the mandate to lead the state in Malaysia's 14th general election, and he was succeeded as menteri besar by Aminuddin Harun. Aminuddin is expected to succeed Mohamad as the Deer president as well, and he had earlier appeared at their home ground the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, during Negeri's league match against Kedah, just four days after the election.
Under Mohamad's presidency, Negeri won their only Super League title so far in 2006, captured the Malaysia Cup twice and the FA Cup once. But success deserted them and they were relegated to the Premier League beginning in the 2014 season. Their push to return to the top tier was then repeatedly hampered by questionable mid-season roster changes, most famously involving Australian forward Andrew Nabbout, who was inexplicably cut from the team midway through the 2016 season. Nabbout has recently been called up to join Australia's 2018 World Cup squad.
However, the Deer were promoted back to the Super League for the 2018 season, as one of two replacement teams.