PUTRAJAYA, Oct 23 (Bernama) — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

spent his time tonight with his selected Facebook and Twitter followers watching

the English Premier League football match between Manchester United (MU) and

Manchester City at Seri Perdana, here.

Najib who is a staunch supporter of MU, arrived at about 8.15pm and was

greeted by thunderous applause from the football fans, most of them being strong

MU supporters.

In his speech, Najib said he was very pleased when some 2,500 requests were

received to attend the event but fortunately it could only accommodate 300

people.

Najib said watching the EPL could spur Malaysia”s young to choose football

and the government had embarked on the programme called “1 Mukim 1 Futsal” to

help develop the sport further.

“In the recent budget, the government had set aside RM30 million to build

about 20 artificial football fields around the country,” he said.

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NAJIB-EPL 2 (LAST) PUTRAJAYA

The prime minister hoped it would stimulate grassroot development of

football in this country, as it was his hope and dream to see Malaysian football

at a greater level.

“I also hope that by doing sports development from the grassroot level, we

will be able to nurture young talents for the future.

“If we don”t have enough material, we can get Sir Alex Ferguson to be

national coach, but even he cannot work miracles; he needs the people, the

players and the talent,” he said.

Najib said the country needed to churn out young talented Malaysians who

would be able to compete at a higher level.

– BERNAMA