WED: THIS may sound trite but Perak FA president Raja Nazrin Shah has reminded the Premier League players that anyone involved in match-fixing next season will be sacked.

Whether the players heed this warning is a question only they can answer themselves.
Raja Nazrin, who recently took over as president from former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib, said Perak have a young squad with the potential to excel in the game, provided the players discipline themselves.

"He can be the best player in the team but I will not hesitate to expel him if he is guilty of match-fixing," he said in his speech after chairing the FA's first council meeting in Ipoh yesterday.

Raja Nazrin also handed cheques to the victorious Malaysia Cup squad, who beat Negri Sembilan 2-0 this year to win the trophy for the second time in three seasons.

The key players received RM47,000 each while five reserves got RM10,000 each. Three team officials were also rewarded with coach Karl Weigang, who was not present, getting RM24,000.

Of the total amount, RM22,000 were from the State government while the remainer came from the private sector.

Raja Nazrin said the FA had received RM2.5 million from entreprenuers in Perak, of which RM500,000 were set aside for the players while RM2 million will be used for development.

Later, Perak introduced goalkeeper Azlisham Ibrahim and striker Norizam Ali Hassan as their new signings for next season.

Eight players - Azrul Amri Burhan, M. Nagaraja, V. Saravanan, P. Gunasekaran, Khalid Jamlus, Chan Wing Hoong, Raja Azlan Raja Shoib and Zamri - have renewed their contracts for the 2001 season.

Team manager Jamal Nasir Rasdi later said the president had agreed to engage a foreign coach for next season.

The council appointed a chartered accountant and chief executive of Maju Perak, Mansor Ahmad, as treasurer, replacing Amaluddin Ismail, who was appointed as President's Cup team manager.

The new secretary is Ipoh chief assistant district officer Mohd Najri Abdul Hamid, while Datuk Bandar Ipoh Datuk Talaat Husain and State Education Department director Ahmad Zainuddin Othman have been co-opted into the council, bringing the number of members to 11.