SHAH ALAM - The announcement made in July at the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Kelana Jaya headquarters that a Singapore team will return to Malaysian domestic football competitions has thrown up two camps back home.

The first group are thrilled and hope the heady days of Singapore's Malaysia Cup years can be revived. The second school of thought have described it as a backward step for Singapore football and an admission of the failure of the S-League.

While the agreement between the FAM and the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) will also see the Malaysian under-23 team play in the S-League and the two Cup competitions here, there is a faction in Malaysia who feel the move will do little except benefit Singapore football.

But over the last three days in Shah Alam, where the Malaysian Super League (MSL) and second tier Malaysia Premier League clubs all came together for a briefing, Malaysian officials have shown nothing but commitment to a cause they believe will be mutually beneficial, and also unite the two nations.

"We are determined to make this collaboration work, and it doesn't matter what hiccups come in our way, we will look to find compromises," said FAM vice-president Datuk Hamidin bin Haji Amin.

"Even if we don't get things right this year, we will learn and fix it next time around."

The tone of cooperation extended beyond Hamidin's words.

Singapore officials from the newly formed LionsXII team were given prime seats, front and centre at the Grand Bluewave Hotel ballroom, with FAS official Eugene Loo invited to sit alongside Hamidin at the press conference on Tuesday.

It was there that Hamidin faced the sceptical Malaysian media, and stood tall for Singapore. He defended the under-28 policy for the LionsXII's team and the size of the squad - Singapore's outfit can total 35 players while Malaysian clubs are only allowed 25.

He dropped a bombshell when he revealed that the LionsXII will not face relegation from the MSL until 2015, and even asked local media to be positive and support the move. He said: "The LionsXII team have issues with National Service, with players even facing problems getting released for World Cup qualifiers, what more of the MSL?

"We are doing all we can to make sure that they can be a strong team, so that when they play there'll be full houses ... even if (the fervour) doesn't return fully to what it was in the days of Mokhtar Dahari and Quah Kim Song, getting back to 60 per cent of that would be great ."

MSL chief executive Stuart Ramalingam predicted a commercial boost from Singapore's return and he told Today: "The worst thing that could come out of this would be to see Singapore leave the MSL. This is a long-term project and it would be great to have Singapore as a permanent fixture."