KUALA LUMPUR: One head is better.

This is the conclusion reached by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) when the exco, headed by Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh, created an important post – a project manager – to oversee their new 12-year plan for the future.

And the good news is that the project manager, aka supremo, will be given the full authority to run the programs.

The BAM have not decided on the candidate for the job but it will not be a foreigner thus hiring South Korean Park Joo-bong is out of the question. Those in the running are Kwan Yoke Meng and Wong Ah Jit and they may even look for others to take up the job.

The project manager will oversee the country’s three new squads – elite and 2016, 2020 and 2024 – spanning three Olympics cycles.

The 2020 squad will comprise the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) players while the 2024 squad will consist of players from nine to 14 years old from the states.

The BAM have appointed Rashid Sidek and Tan Kim Her as the singles and doubles chief coaches for the elite and 2016 squads and both will be answerable to the project manager.

The project manager will also be given the task to appoint the chief coaches for the 2020 and 2024 squads.

BAM president Nadzmi said that the role of the project manager would be clearly defined.

“We need a really good manager – one who can organize and strategise,"he said.

“He must have strong managerial skills and the ability to work well with others. He also needs the technical expertise.

“There are three basic elements. The project manager will be given clear responsibilities of his job scope so that he will not have to change the goal posts all the time. And he will be given the authority to fulfil his responsibilities. He, however, will have to be accountable for all his actions.

“The way he manages should ensure that all the squads will be inter-related and linked. He will have to ensure that all analyses and coaching programmes will be documented so that it could be passed on.

“We did not have competent people to fulfil those responsibilities in the past.

“We did not have a perfect fit but with the appointment of a project manager, we hope our programme will be executed well.”

Malaysia had a similar set-up before when Morten Frost Hansen was appointed the national coaching director and Yap Kim Hock the chief coach but both did not have full say in running the programs.

Yesterday, Nadzmi, however, reiterated that coaches had always been given the power to decide in BAM.

When pointed out that there had been several decisions on players which was made by the management and not the coaches, the exco admitted it was a mistake and promised to go through the right processes this time around.

- The Star