Sabah Rhinos may have found a replacement for the sacked George O’Callaghan.

The New Sabah Times Sports reliably learnt that talks have already taken place between them and the man in question, who is believed to be Manchester-born, and doing his coaching job Down Under.

He was chosen among three candidates with the other two being locals from Peninsular Malaysia, with one of them identified as former Kedah and Terengganu T-Team head coach Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah.

However, Sabah Rhinos CEO Datuk Seri TC Goh, who is also the team manager, when asked on the possibility of them bringing in a replacement for O’Callaghan, refused to be drawn into the matter.

He merely responded by saying that “our team is playing our first match tomorrow (today), and don’t listen to rumours”.

Goh has every reason for being tight-lipped, as he has learnt from experience that in football, anything can happen. Furthermore, he doesn’t want the matter to affect the team’s concentration or focus where they will face newly promoted Kuala Lumpur in a tricky season opener away at the Merdeka Stadium today.

It is also learnt that the imminent arrival of the new coach (name withheld) believed to be recommended by former Sabah coach Ronald Smith will not affect Justin’s position in the team, as the latter is to be given a different position, likely to be Technical Director.

He is expected to arrive in the State Capital middle of this month.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan is confident that the State Premier League strengthened by star names such as El Hadji Diouf will be able to bring back glory days to Sabah football.

Tawfiq, who is also the Sabah FA Deputy President I, also has high hopes that the team will gain Super League promotion next season.

“My hope is that the Sabah team will be able to do well and give their best show in the Premier League that kicks off on Feb 6.

“I hope that the players will be able to be fully committed in order for the team to do well,” he said yesterday. Tawfiq said that it is important for the State football team to do well in the Premier League in order to bring back the spirit to the local football fans.

According to Tawfiq, the Sabah FA, helmed by the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman have done their best, by coming out with a big budget to get top and quality foreign players to make sure that Sabah is able to compete with the rest of the teams in the league.