Written by: Nigel Chin

The former Blackburn Rovers manager was named the top coach in S.League for 2015 on Monday evening at the 20th S.League Awards Night held at the Marina Bay Sands.

It is the first time Kean has won the award, having come close to winning in 2014, only to lose out at the very end to Balestier Khalsa’s Marko Kraljevic.

However, after guiding Brunei DPMM to their first-ever S.League title, there was to be no denying him the Coach of the Year award as he beat out Kraljevic, Albirex Niigata (S)’ Tatsuyuki Okuyama and Tampines Rovers’ V. Sundramoorthy.

“It’s been a great season and it’s another award for the team,” Kean said.

“I’ll go back and put this in the trophy room along with the other awards we’ve picked up. When you get an award like this, it’s like an extension to the rest of your staff, your fans.

“You may be the guy who gets the award but there’s another team behind the team. Those are the management and the fans, who have been exceptional this year.

“I’m just delighted for the chairman, the crown prince. This award I received is down to all the hard work he’s put in the last two years I’ve been here. It’s not just for me, it’s for everybody.”

Kean was also full of praise for Azwan Ali, who picked up the Young Player of the Year award to make it a double joy for the Bruneians.

However, he is keen to keep celebrations to the minimum and instead start preparing for the 2016 season.

“We start pre-season on the ninth January and I have to finalise my pre-season,” Kean said.

“We have to speak with the import players and make sure we can get the best team possible.

“I’m also gonna try to bring a couple of young players from the Brunei Under-19 team who have done very well the last six months.

“We just need to try freshen up and keep moving forward.”