MAY 2 — I remember a time when any association between a Malaysian businessman (and I use the term businessman loosely here) and English football released the pungent scent of ‘match fixing scandal’ in the immediate surroundings.

No thanks to one Heng Suan Lim, of course, but perhaps that phase has indeed passed because it seems as if Malaysian forays into the richest football league in the world is one of more substantive prestige.

Following in the footsteps of Americans, Russians, Middle-Easterners and Thais (what Thaksin can do, surely we can do better!), it has filtered through to our staff common room chats that there could well very soon be a Malaysian owner of an English League football club.