Birkirkara FC yesterday introduced their newly-appointed president, Karm Galea, new coach Paul Zammit and their new signings.

Galea is a former player and coach of Birkirkara FC and is the successor of Victor Zammit, who resigned from the post during the summer.

Football had been a very integral part of his life from a very young age. Indeed, he first played for Birkirkara Under 18 team when he was not even 14 years old. Eventually he went on to play for the first team, soon becoming its captain for a long time.

In 1967 he spent two seasons playing for Hamrun Spartans but returned to Birkirkara FC after finishing his studies abroad a year later. In 1974 he was appointed coach of the club and retired two years later.

He is the founder director of Megabyte Ltd., a computer company which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary. For 25 years he has also been a senior lecturer at the University of Malta sitting on various boards and, as Chairman of the Faculty of Management, he introduced management science and informatics in the Faculty's Degree courses.

Addressing the press for the first time yesterday, the president thanked his predecessors, especially previous president Victor Zammit, who had elevated the status of the club so much as to win 17 major honours during his term of office.

He said it was also a great honour for the club to have been playing in European club competitions for 13 years during Zammit's tenure.

He said: “It will be very difficult for me to emulate Zammit's successes, especially now that Malta has lost one place in the Europa League, that is, two instead of three clubs.”

He added, however, that the club is committed to work hard and retain its status it has achieved. “This has to be done hand in hand between the administration, the technical staff (the coaches and the players), the Nursery, the Supporters Club and the women's sector,” he said.

He insisted that the Supporters Club will soon start be undertaking a big drive to increase the number of supporters. “From a population of about 25,000 at Birkirkara, I expect much more than the present small number of members. Their financial aid, mostly through the activities held through the season, is very much appreciated and much needed. But it is not all. We always wish to see our fans supporting the team at the stadium, not only when we win, but also when things are not going well for the side,” he added.

Galea said he believed the current team is young, but very promising. He added: “We have to fight very hard to remain at the top. We have a disciplined and serious coach who knows all about the game of football. We are supporting him so that together we will continue building a good structure for the future of this club.”

Galea went on to say that the committee together takes the decisions. “It is not just one member who decides. We have various sub-committees working on every aspect. We believe this is the way forward,” he said.

Coach Paul Zammit also addressed the press and thanked the club's administration for showing confidence in his abilities.

He said the Stripes' team has a lot of potential and he was working on a plan for a new structure at the club which would eventually keep the club in Maltese football's top echelons.

He said: “We have a small squad of 18 players but that will possibly be increased in January during the transfer window. Our main objective, however, is the Under 18s and Under 19s. We have a number of very interesting players who are being taken care of by assistant coach Branco Nisevic and myself. These form a veritable part of our plans for the future of this club.

“In my current squad, I have nine players who are under 23 years of age. Coupled with the experience of Michael Galea and George Mallia, I firmly believe that we can improve a lot on our performances in the first four matches, although I am obviously happy with the last three consecutive wins,” he said.

Zammit also made it clear that he believes discussions with the coaches of the clubs providing players to the national team squads and the national coaches should be held in the best interests of Maltese football. “It is difficult for a coach to have a number of his players not working with him for three days a week. How can we ever improve at club level if a player like new signing Karl Pulo has only trained with me for 15 sessions since August - almost three months? It is about time the professional scheme initiated by the MFA be revised in a way so that it is of benefit to Maltese football. We must look at what others, like Cyprus, have done to improve the way they did. All that has been done here has not produced any improvement. In my opinion, it is the clubs who have to improve their levels. Then, I am sure, the national team will also start showing the desired improvement,” he said.

Club secretary John Borg explained how the government, with the possible interest of private entrepreneurs, seems to be interested in investing funds in making the Infetti grounds and the St Aloysius sports complex, including the gym and the stadium, available as a sports complex for the region.

He said plans for a new ground at a new site are also under consideration, but this seems to be a difficult option as the club seeks to have its own facility as soon as possible.

The new signings made by Birkirkara for this season are:

Branko Nisevic (assistant coach/player (from SliemaW.), Sylvano Comvalius (Dutch striker from Hamrun S., Nikola Vukanac (Serbian defender), Jorge Mora (goalkeeper from Spain), Karl Pulo (from Pieta Hotspurs).