KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Former youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin has admitted that he never harboured any thoughts on returning to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) after his name was linked to the presidency of the governing body.

Khairy, or better known as KJ, who was also former deputy president in FAM, said there were other candidates more qualified than he is to lead the parent body.

He said that being the president of FAM required a person to be hands-on, and he currently did not have the time and space to carry out such a duty.

"Due to the focus given to football, he (the president) needs to be a very ‘hands-on’ person and may have to deal with the daily management at FAM and I may not have the time at the moment to take on that role.

"I like to be hands-on when I work, and I don’t have time, so it’s unfair for FAM if I try my luck in the upcoming FAM election,” he said on the hot seat when met at the Battle of the Reds Motivational Talk event here today.

Prior to this, Khairy’s name cropped up as a possible candidate for the FAM president’s post held by Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin since 2018, following the spread of a poison-pen letter that discredited the parent body’s leadership and management.

The FAM Election is scheduled to take place next year.

At the same time, Khairy, who is a board member of the Johor Darul Ta’zim Football Club (JDT) felt that the time had come for a transformation in FAM.

Without faulting or discrediting the current leadership, he described the change as necessary for the continued progress of national football as a whole for the future.

"This is my personal view, maybe it’s time for a change in FAM, I think the existing management has done its job but since we want to look at the next five to 10 years, I think it’s time for a transition in FAM,” said the former Rembau MP.

Meanwhile, today’s ceremony saw about 200 fans having the opportunity to meet up close and take memorable pictures with the legendary line-up of two English clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool.

The Manchester United legends who were present at the ceremony which lasted about two hours were Wes Brown, Dimitar Berbatov, Danny Webber and Paul Rachubka while the Liverpool legends were John Arne Riise, Luis Garcia, Vladimir Smicer and Steve McManaman.

The ceremony was held in conjunction with the "Battle of the Reds” match between the legends of Manchester United and Liverpool at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tomorrow night.

Battle of the Reds is supported by the Malaysian Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) — an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture — the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Stadium Corporation of Malaysia (PSM) and FAM. — Bernama