Is there really anything evil in Thaksin's plan to buy Manchester City?
I’m bored to tears with the stories about Thaksin and Manchester City. Initially it was a quirky bit of news, but now Thaksin’s intention to buy Manchester City is being twisted and contorted to mean any manner of things. Speculation is rife as to why he is attempting to buy the lagging football club, but you can be sure that where Thaksin is involved there will be those who choose to make his actions serve the purpose of their own beliefs.
A blog post on The Nation’s website this week, reposted from an earlier Real Life Thailand entry, asserts that Thaksin knows nothing about football and that all other foreign investors put their money into English clubs for the love of the sport. Come on! What’s really the difference between Thaksin investing some of his millions and George Gillett and Tom Hicks doing the same thing to buy Liverpool?
Millionaires buying football teams is nothing new. Numerous fat cats have seen the opportunities in investing in Premiership clubs. OK, not all of them were in political exile, but you have to remember that the coup wasn’t strictly legal and Thaksin hasn’t actually been convicted of anything yet.
Remember when Jack Walker bought Blackburn and took them to the top? Or how about when Mohamed Al Fayed decided to buy Fulham? And who could forget Roman Abramovich pouring millions into Chelsea to take the club to a new level of footballing excellence? Who is to say that Thaksin will not do the same for Manchester City? Fans of Manchester City don’t care about whether Thaksin is a nice guy or what his virtues are; they want money to take their club back to glory days when Niall Quinn was leading the way.
Alexandre Gaydamak invested 52 million pounds in Portsmouth last year. Was it for the love of the game? Was it because he had the club’s best interests at heart? You’d have to ask him that, or we could sit here speculating until we’re red in the face.
Robert Earl put a lot of money into Everton in 2006. Who is Robert Earl? you might ask. Well, he’s the owner of Planet Hollywood. Once again, it would be easy from here to pass judgment and assert that Robert Earl knows nothing about football, as we can read on The Nation’s blog about Thaksin, but really such details are beside the point.
The English Premiership is big business. It has become about more than just football, as the foreign invasion of investors demonstrates. By the end of next year it is estimated that the 20 sides in the Premiership will be raking in close to 2 billion pounds between them. The money in English football is on the up exponentially.
From The Nation’s blog:
So the purchase of an -admittedly big – club in debt that is facing internal problems by a business man with no interest in football seems a little strange to say the least.
Actually it makes perfect sense.
However, threes a potential culture clash on the horizon. Thaksin is used to making a big show of face and being seen as the man who pulls all the strings. English football fans however, are only too weary of businessmen trying to act like they know more than the manager.
If money comes in and success follows I don’t think English football fans are going to care. Look at Abramovich as a prime example.
Is Thaksin using the purchase of Manchester City for political reasons? Who can say? But really we ought to remember that Thaksin is a millionaire and sometimes millionaires do buy football clubs. It’s easy to speculate what his motives are, but in the current climate in English football there is a bigger picture that ought to be considered. (Credit to the BBC for all my football facts today.)
Techno' tags: Thailand, Thaksin, Manchester City
Evil is too strong a word, so I would have to answer NO.
Personally, I think his motives are Publicity, Ego, Business (in that order)
BTW, Mentioning Thaksin, Manchester & Evil is the same headline might be good for your Google numbers – good move!
My guess is that the deal will break down. Look at it from Machester City's perspective. Sure they need the money, but what if their owner risks having a global arrest warrant issued against him? Their might even be FIFA or UEFA rulings against that sort of thing anyway.
I think you are right and you have argued your points perfectly. Thaksin has huge ego and that is probably the reasoning behind his plans for Man City. Nothing political, just an idea to promote his name. Perhaps, on securing a bit of fame in England he ought to follow in the foot-steps of Carabao and knock off some Energy Drink.
Thaksin seems to be all over the show, it was only last week that the Thai Press claimed that Thasin was gonna buy a mega house in Hong Kong at an astonishing US$27 million dollars.
The guy seems to have so much money that he can not think what to do with it all.
For once I agree with hobby, but I think Thaksin's motives aren't that different from the recent group of foreign owners.
I'm sure it's business, ego and to curry favour with the people back home. The idea of a notoriously corrupt Thai PM with a string of human rights allegations against him buying a British football club isn't going down too well here. Amnesty kicked up a fuss when he tried to use taxpayers money to buy Liverpool. With any luck he won't pull it off.