Lynn Chircop was yesterday given a warm welcome at the airport on her return from Latvia, helping ease the tension that had built up on the chartered flight back to Malta.

The tension was the culmination of a week during which the singer's family felt not enough was being done for Lynn prior to the Eurovision Song Contest, while on the other hand Maltasong felt the family was interfering in various details of the organisation.

After Lynn placed in the penultimate position with her song To Dream Again, composed by Alfred Zammit and penned by Cynthia Sammut, the difficulties reached a climax which was witnessed by journalists on board the plane.

Outgoing Maltasong chairman Charlò Bonnici was singled out by Lynn, who felt her chances of doing well abroad were ruined.

"I am happy with my performance because at the end of the day I gave my best, irrespective of the placing. However, I needed moral support from the chairman and I never got it. I could not depend on anyone," Lynn said on the flight.

"This is not a matter of sour grapes. I am happy with what I did. This situation has been going on for months," she said.

Lynn was also upset at the fact that Maltasong had this year taken the decision not to produce a video, so as to direct the Lm5,000 saved into lobbying in the participating countries.

"I feel the video is very important for the image of the song. As a musician who loves music, I felt the video which was sent portraying my performance at the Song for Europe Festival was not a good product," she said.

"I would have preferred to have the official video produced instead of travelling abroad. We could have sent the video as promotion material instead of me travelling," she added.

Lynn also said she felt Malta's entry was boycotted this year, since at last year's Eurovision many countries had been promised support which they never got.

Mr Bonnici remained calm in face of the tension on board the plane and replied that: "One has to understand that when somebody is under tension, as is the present situation, they can react in a certain way.

"All I have to say is that for the past three months our patience, diplomacy and resilience have been tested to the limit," he said.

Mr Bonnici also reiterated that the decision not to produce a video had been unanimously taken by Maltasong to divert the money which would have been spent on the video, on trips abroad.

The tension continued after the plane landed and Lynn and her family were conducted by the airport staff so that she could greet the 300 or so fans.

As Mr Bonnici was giving comments to the press in the arrivals lounge, composer Mr Zammit had to be restrained from approaching Paul Zammit Cutajar of Bridge Productions, entrusted with arranging the original composition and producing the final version of Lynn's song.

Meanwhile, focusing on the future of Malta's participation in Eurovision, Mr Bonnici said the present selection system for Malta's representative in the contest had to be reviewed to face up to fierce competition.

Mr Bonnici said it was obviously disappointing that Malta placed in the penultimate position, but nobody could deny that Lynn Chircop gave a great performance.

Malta's entry in next year's Eurovision final night is not guaranteed and whoever represents Malta will first have to make it through a qualifying round in order to compete in the final night.

Mr Bonnici said whoever replaced him as chairman should concentrate all efforts in reviewing the present selection system to adapt to the way the contest had evolved.

"There should be a system where a singer is first selected through a competition. After this, the composers and authors will then vie with one another to put together a song for the chosen artist," he said.

This was fully supported by Norman Hamilton, vice-president of the International Federation of Festival Organisers (Fidof).

"The time has come to review the formula used to choose Malta's entry for the Eurovision," he said.

Meanwhile, giving a post mortem of Malta's performance, Mr Zammit Cutajar said Lynn gave her best performance.

"The result was obviously disappointing from the point of view of the votes awarded to Malta, but not from Lynn's performance. That's Eurovision for you!"

Mr Zammit Cutajar also pointed out that Lynn faced tough competition and it was very evident that countries were taking the contest very seriously.