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hat began with the biggest media frenzy in S.League history last January ended with barely a whimper on Monday night when ex-Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant flew home to the UK.

After so much promise, Pennant failed to deliver during his nine-and-a-half month stay in Singapore, despite a reported salary of S$20,000 (US$14,455) per month.

His club, Tampines Rovers, was unable to win any hardware, even with a squad packed with 13 Singapore internationals and some of the league’s best players. They were outclassed all season by a team of unknown Japanese players — Albirex Niigata (S) — who scooped up all four trophies.

The ultimate insult came at Jalan Besar Stadium last Saturday when Pennant was left out of the starting lineup by coach Akbar Nawas as S. League runner up Tampines lost 2-0 to Albirex in the Singapore Cup final.

When questioned about why he benched his highest-paid player in a major final, Nawas claimed he would make the same decision again 1,000 times over.

“He had his chance in the last 30 minutes to turn the game around,” Nawas added. “You decide whether or not he did that.”

At age 33, Pennant struggled for much of the season with hamstring, calf and Achilles injuries that either sidelined him or hindered his ability to play.

In 21 S.League games, including six appearances off the bench, he only scored five times. In twelve matches in Cup competitions, including the AFC Cup, he only made one goal.

At his prime, Pennant was a flying right winger, who was a star for Liverpool in the 2007 UEFA Champions League final and appeared for Stoke City in the 2011 FA Cup final. However, at Tampines, fans were baffled by his deep-lying midfield role where he often launched balls forward from a left-back position.

Pennant took most of Tampines’ free kicks and corners. When it came to the quality of his set pieces, he was far above anyone else in the S.League. However, Pennant failed to put his stamp on helping to move forward a Tampines’ late-season slump, in which they were ineligible for the AFC Cup in September. They lost three consecutive S. League games, squashing their hopes of receiving the title.

A few months earlier, everything was going well. After V. Sundramoorthy left to take over as national coach in May, Tampines went on an eight-game winning streak under former assistant coach Nawas. Pennant played beautifully with Canadian winger Jordan Webb and former Ireland striker Billy Mehmet.

A few weeks earlier, he produced his best performance yet in a Tampines’ jersey — in his trademark right wing role — as the S. League side defeated Malaysian giant Selangor in the AFC Cup at the Singapore National Stadium on May 10. Pennant was reportedly hoping to impress then Selangor coach Zainal Abidin Hassan with a proposal of moving across the border in 2017.

Things would soon sour as injuries sidelined key Tampines attackers Fazrul Nawaz and Shahdan Sulaiman. Pennant seemed powerless to turn the team’s misfortune around, despite a salary at least three times higher than most of his teammates. Club captain Fahrudin Mustafic stood up for Pennant, saying it was unfair to make him responsible for the team’s sub-par performances.

To his credit, Pennant was professional off the field during his time at Tampines Rovers. He patiently agreed to media requests and countless autograph signings.

In Singapore, Pennant lived in the quiet Bedok Reservoir area in a modern condo near a pet shop and beauty salon. His neighbors were fellow foreign players, Webb and Mehmet, and the trio could often be found having coffee at the Refuel Café, across the road from their apartment complex. Having often been the target of tabloid newspapers during his wayward, younger days, Pennant enjoyed the relative anonymity of Singapore’s eastern heartland where local Chinese TV dramas are often more closely followed than S. League matches.

Back at his home at Stoke-on-Trent this week, Pennant’s immediate future is unclear, as he weighs offers from the English lower leagues. It seems unlikely, however, that he will ever play in Asia again.

His last big move in Asia came during injury time in Saturday night’s Singapore Cup final. He took a corner kick with Tampines looking to salvage some pride through a late consolation goal. The ball sailed safely into the Albirex goalkeeper’s hands, and the referee blew the full-time whistle.

That moment, more or less, summed up Pennant’s unfulfilled Singapore chapter.
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Jason Dasey is Senior Editor of ESPN FC, Indonesia’s most popular English language soccer website with a SE Asia edition. Twitter: @ESPNFC_ID