The Crown Prince owner of Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) hailed the prowess of his record-breaking side, who are celebrating their third consecutive Malaysia Super League (MSL) title this weekend after a 5-1 annihilation of T-Team.
Popularly known as TMJ, the outspoken boss said creating history with a treble-league success had always been in the pipeline, and vindicated his decision 18 months ago to sack previous coach Bojan Hodak.
"The success of winning the MSL three times in a row is the most special achievement to me among everything else achieved by the team, since I took over JDT in 2013. It was something I planned since 2015," said TMJ, through the Southern Tigers Facebook page.
"When I fired Bojan Hodak in 2015, many supporters, including rival fans, questioned and slammed my decision of sacking the coach who had won two trophies for JDT. Today, I don't have to explain anymore, you can see for yourself."
TMJ went on to add that securing the services of Mario Gomez, who was then in charge of South China, was his initiative.
A photo posted by Official Johor Southern Tigers (@officialjohor) on
The silver-haired Argentine went on to secure five trophies for the club since arriving in April 2015.
This year, he delivered the Charity Shield in February and the FA Cup in May before securing the MSL title, following a 3-0 win over Terengganu on Sept. 9.
"Nobody recommended Mario Gomez to me. I myself went to Argentina to meet him after watching a match between South China and Pahang. I asked my agent to arrange a meeting for me in Mario in Argentina. He is not a coach for the short run, but a long term coach," said TMJ.
The royal owner also plans to send the team for their preseason in Spain, with stints in Valencia and Atletico Madrid, followed by a possible friendly with 2015 Thailand champions Buriram United.
Now that the glittering fireworks celebrations, following the T-Team rout, are over, JDT now their attentions towards their AFC Cup title defence, with a first-leg semifinal against India's Bengaluru FC on Wednesday.
The Southern Tigers will host the Indian champions at Larkin Stadium, before the return leg on Oct. 19.
JDT disposed South China 3-2 on aggregate in the quarterfinals to set up the meeting against Bengaluru, who deserved their 1-0 aggregate triumph over Singapore's Tampines Rovers.