It’s not unusual for home fans to grumble about pre-season tours, seeing them as cynical marketing exercises that do little to prepare players for the rigours of the season ahead, and sometimes see them getting involved in unfortunate incidents that bring bad publicity.
It’s not unusual for home fans to grumble about pre-season tours, seeing them as cynical marketing exercises that do little to prepare players for the rigours of the season ahead, and sometimes see them getting involved in unfortunate incidents that bring bad publicity.
However, it is unusual for the host nations to complain. They are only too pleased to bask in some of the glamour of the Premiership with local ‘fans’ being given the chance to see their heroes in the flesh.
Even so, the visit of Tottenham Hotspur (and later Liverpool) to Malaysia did draw complaints from some locals.
‘Don’t buy tickets, don’t go to the stadium,’ urged the website of the Ultras Malaya. ‘The games are held to make the [Malaysian] FA, the organisers and their cronies rich.’
However, the stigmatisation of these so-called ‘circus matches’ failed to deter most fans from going along. 30,000 turned up to see Spurs beat their hosts 2-1.