Dong A Thanh Hoa Club has completed the V.League relegation target one round early. Despite losing 0-2 to Ninh Binh in round 25, the Thanh team still maintained a safe distance from the bottom group.
However, after overcoming the difficult relegation battle, what makes coach Mai Xuan Hop worried is not the professional results but the future of the team.
Dong A Thanh Hoa experienced a season of many fluctuations. Financial difficulties appearing after Bau Doan's incident significantly affected the club's operations.
Many important players successively left the team, while the remaining force had to strain themselves to play throughout the season. At one point, the coaching staff only had about 15-16 players capable of playing but still maintained their fighting spirit to win important points against strong opponents.
Looking back at the past journey, coach Mai Xuan Hop sent his thanks to the players and fans of Thanh Hoa who have always accompanied the team.
He shared: "The first thing I want to do is to send my thanks to the entire team and fans of the province. In recent months, Thanh Hoa football has experienced many sad things.
The biggest difficulty is the issue of funding. After Bau Doan's incident, the operating budget of the team was greatly affected, leading to many key players having to say goodbye.
The young coach admitted that relegation cannot completely reassure him: "I want to thank the whole team, but at the same time also receive another sadness when there are still a few players preparing to leave the team.
Actually, up to this point, I have not found joy for myself. Just like the Dong A Thanh Hoa team, the only joy is that we have helped the team successfully stay in the league before one round.
But deep down in me there are still many worries, because I don't know what the team will be like tomorrow. Up to this point, I have not seen a clear path or a glimmer of hope for the team's future.
According to coach Mai Xuan Hop, the most important thing at this time is to find a stable direction for Thanh Hoa football in the future. He believes that the companionship of local leaders will play an important role for the team to overcome the challenging period.
The biggest expectation I have at this time is that provincial leaders, departments, agencies, especially the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will pay more attention to us and take stronger actions so that the two words Thanh Hoa football will continue to exist, develop and always have a position on the Vietnamese football map," Mr. Hop emphasized.
On the sidelines of the team's story, before the information related to the head coach position in the new season when coach Nguyen Anh Duc appeared, Mr. Hop affirmed that he does not care too much about the title.
Actually, everyone knows, I don't think heavily about titles. The thing I want most is to contribute a small part of my efforts to my hometown team. For me, titles are not the most important thing.
The important thing is that during the past time, we brothers have united, together overcome countless difficulties to survive and come to this day," coach Mai Xuan Hop said.
