KUALA LUMPUR: There will be sleepless nights as they wonder how their football clubs are going to survive.
Veteran coach Azraai Khor Abdullah, who knows the M-League inside out, said he can imagine a veritable number of team owners or chief executives scratching their heads. They are looking at walking a financial tightrope, and trying to balance the books.
That's the daunting challenge ahead after Wednesday's announcement by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) that the M-League will be restructured.
The main changes are:
* The Super League will be expanded from 12 to 18 teams with the extra six teams coming from the discontinued Premier League.
* All the 18 Super League teams are required to form an Under-23 reserve team each for development purpose and to play in the Reserve League,
* Super League teams can register up to nine foreign players.
The objective is to offer more game time and competitive matches to players and increase the league's commercial value. This means teams will play 34 league matches instead of the current 22.
But Azraai, who achieved the "double treble" with Kedah in 2007 and 2008, said the teams will need to be financially sound to fit into the restructured league.
But even now, people often hear of M-League teams in financial trouble and players not getting paid.
With the expanded Super League, teams' expenses will shoot up due to more away matches, signing more foreign players apart from running a Reserve team.
"I feel that after MFL's announcement, team owners or team chief executive officers won't be able to sleep a wink, thinking about the extra expenditures," said Azraai.
"When it comes to matters like this, suggesting is one thing but implementing is another.
"Of course, this is something positive because we want more teams in the league, with more minutes of play, exposure and it would be far more interesting. But with the addition of more teams, logistics becomes another concern as there will be extra money to fork out.
"MFL are encouraging clubs to have their own reserve teams, but there are those who can't afford it as they are even struggling to pay their main team."
Azraai fears that an expanded league will lead to more cases of unpaid salaries — a bad image that Malaysia is trying so hard to get rid of.
He pointed out that most of the teams are already struggling financially, and often there are reports of unpaid salaries in the M-League.
And the latest case involved Sarawak United's former Brazilian player Sandro Da Silva who complained to Fifa about unpaid wages.
Last week, it was reported that Sarawak United were banned by Fifa from transferring local and foreign players for three transfer windows following their failure to settle the salary arrears of Da Silva amounting to more than RM150,000.
Azraai said the club owners and chief executives should speak up on the matter, being stakeholders in the M-League.
"They need to say whether or not it is acceptable, and we cannot just have a bunch of 'yes men'. They must voice out their dilemmas, the burden that they need to take on," he said.
On the nine foreign players quota, Azraai said his main concern is again the same thing – money.
"I think it is not the time yet," he said.
Azraai suggested that the MFL make the implementations of the new league structure in certain areas to be experimental.
"We must revise and study it entirely because everything depends on financial standings. Most teams are struggling and for them, it is a case of money, no talk," he said.