A mood of concern yet calm enveloped the Manchester United camp after news had filtered through of the bombings in Indonesia. Although their match in Jakarta on Monday has been cancelled, the show will go on against a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow as well as the third and fourth games of their tour in South Korea and China.

United officials spoke of their shock at hearing of the explosions, especially as they were due to stay in the same Carlton-Ritz hotel when they flew to Jakarta on Saturday night.

They are now expected to stay in Kuala Lumpur until Tuesday before travelling straight to Seoul. ”We’re disappointed at not getting the opportunity to go to Indonesia,” Gary Neville, the United captain, said. “The great thing about this club is the opportunity to see our fans all over the world. We’re just here to play football and, sadly, what has happened is out of our control.”

David Gill, the United chief executive, and Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, also responded quietly and in measured tones to the questioning in a press conference in the Emerald Room of the Mandarin Oriental. Their businesslike manner in the city-centre hotel was briefly interrupted by shrieks from fans waiting for the United players to arrive to sign autographs.”Our thoughts go out to all the people affected in the blasts and their families,” Gill said. “We are deeply disappointed by what has happened and we are now working on a revised itinerary with the promoters.”

Ferguson said: “It was a shock to hear the news. We only found out when we had landed here. We have never been to Indonesia before and the organisers had worked hard to get us there. We had no other option [but to cancel the match]. We have to safeguard our players and staff.”

ProEvents, the promoters, are working with United to possibly switch the game in Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur on Monday night. The company had staff staying in the Carlton-Ritz last night but it is believed that none were injured.

The atmosphere grew rather more manic later in the day when the United squad trained in the National Stadium in front of about 20,000 excitable Malaysian fans. In the absence of the departed Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney attacted the most attention in the heat and humidity of the early evening session.