It is a proven fact that a great footballer does not always make a good coach.
It is also true, however, that many coaches have played football at some level.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule and to quote a couple of examples I would mention Pippo Psaila and Tony Formosa.
One man who did not make it to the top as a player but made a career out of coaching was Karm Borg.
Borg was born on July 20, 1931 in St Julian’s. From an early age, he showed an inclination for sport and by the time he entered his teens he was already playing waterpolo for Ballutta WPC and football for Melita FC.
He was a regular in Melita’s Second Division team when he joined Sliema Wanderers in 1954.
Borg made his debut for the Blues’ on November 20, 1954 in the 4-0 victory over St George’s. It seemed at the time that he had a fine future in front of him but a serious injury cost him his place in the first team and only managed to play nine league matches for the Wanderers.
That season, however, he still managed a Scicluna Cup medal.
In the summer of 1957 Borg made a comeback with Valletta FC.
He made his debut for the Lilywhites on October 5, 1957 in the 1-4 upset to Sliema. That season he made 11 first-team starts but towards the end of the campaign he had a recurrence of his old injury and was forced to hang up his boots for ever.
Borg, however, did not give up the game and instead started coaching.
In 1960, he attended a course in Loughborough, England, from where he graduated with honours.
On his return from England he was contracted by Valletta FC to coach the minors and reserves and in 1962-63 he was given charge of the first team. This was a great season for Borg and in his first campaign he led the team to championship glory.
In 1961, Borg was approached by the MFA to succeed Joe Griffiths as national coach.
One of the outstanding statistics about Borg was that when he took charge of the national team, at 39 years of age, he became one of the youngest national coaches in the world.
Usually countries go for an older man with years of experience behind him. However, within two seasons of taking over the reins of the team Borg had two big successes which few other Maltese coaches can boast of.
He led the team to a fine 1-1 draw against Greece in the Nations Cup and a famous victory against visiting English team Tottenham Hotspur.
Borg made his debut with the national team on November 5, 1961 in the 1-1 draw against Norway at the Empire Stadium.
In all, he led the team in nine internationals including the famous game against England on February 3, 1971 when Malta were beaten 1-0 by the former world champions.
His time as Malta coach came to an abrupt end just before the England-Malta kick-off at Wembley Stadium on May 12, 1971.
Borg was at first suspended by the MFA because of incidents which he had nothing to do with in the UEFA U-18 match between Malta and Switzerland which was played on April 20, 1971.
Later, Borg won his appeal at UEFA but his career with the national team was over and this unsavoury incident left such a negative impact that it spelt the start of the end of his career in football.
One of his biggest successes was in 1968 when he guided Sliema into the second round of the Cup Winners’ Cup after eliminating Rumelange, of Luxembourg.
That was the first time that a Maltese club had managed to move into the second round on their own merits.