HOW CAN WE GET BETTER?

The Thai premier league has been a magnificent success this year with booming crowds and increased media coverage. People all over Asia are talking about the league. Facts that possibly only Vietnam football can equal. However, the sign of quality management of any organisation is that they are always looking to improve the product. How can this be done? I am often asked these questions and as I have not got the phone numbers of Roman Abramovich or a few Saudi billionaires I can suggest purely on a personal basis things that would make the game better for both players and fans.

The pitch is the most underrated factor in Thai football development. If you ever get a chance to go to an EPL game try to get as close to the pitch as possible (You won’t get on it) and that is my argument. The pitches are sacred and are only used once every two weeks. No training on them and not even reserve or youth games. Hence the pitches are like snooker tables. When the pitch is like this, then players can play one touch football which is the aim of all great teams. On a practical level preparation for our Jordan game in Amman, Thailand trained on the Aspire Academy pitches in Doha. The training sessions were some of the best football the Thais had played. Due to an excellent flat surface. The surfaces of TPL clubs are not good enough. It’s often only caring about the pitch or actually having a grounds man who knows his job then the pitch could be far better. It can be done, and everybody in the game will benfit. Liverpol were not happy with the national stadium, so that puts it in perspective. At a lower level the better the pitches the better the technique of young players will be. The technique of Thai footballers is world class; they just can’t always show it on hard bumpy pitches.

The behavior of players and coaches is also a key point. There is an epidemic of time wasting by players with fake injuries and the pressure on the opposition to kick a ball out of play for “Fair Play” The reality is that this is not going to happen in International football. Indra Shadan of Singapore and Le Cong Vinh of Vietnam will not stop scoring because a Thai defender has cramp! I would encourage all players to play on and only stop if the Referee decides the injury is genuine. Some of the acting is pathetic and as a fan I would be sick of seeing the stretcher bearers on every few minutes

On the subject of referees I cannot believe the public abuse that is allowed to be given to the referees by coaches and Officials, I would have been bankrupt and suspended if I had said these things when I was coaching in Singapore or Malaysia. Also it should be set in concrete, players and officials should never be allowed to touch a referee. Any physical contact should be a red card. And in conclusion the “walk off” is a phenomenon that I have only seen in Thailand. The answer is simple, if a team walks off, the game stops and the opposition is awarded the game 3-0. It would soon stop. Referees will mistakes, but so do Coaches and players. Accept that this is part of the game. use official channels to complain if something is justified. If a Thai team does this in an AFC game then there will be a massive punishment. I have watched genuine sincere players not wanting to come off but being forced to by Officials. There is no place for the walk off.