Paul Hewitt's column in BK magazine. I disagree with Paul that we are "fading fast", except from the title race, which is now over. We could, in theory, still finish second and win the FA Cup and qualify for a ACL play off spot. That said, I understand that events off the pitch could get worse over coming weeks.
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http://bk.asia-city.com/health/blog/thai-premier-league/muangthong-meltdown
y Paul Hewitt | published Dec 16, 2011
It’s all gone wrong at Muangthong United. The Nonthaburi side which won four consecutive league championships between 2007 and 2010 is, if not quite in freefall, at least fading fast. Recent results include draws against Army United, Khon Kaen and BEC Tero Sasana and, most surprisingly, a 3-1 home defeat to lowly Siam Navy this past Wednesday. That was Muangthong’s first home defeat in the league since their Division 1 days way back in 2008. Their faltering form has seen them fall to third and allowed Chonburi to open up a three point gap in second spot, and they’re now a massive sixteen points behind champion’s elect Buriram PEA. Times have certainly changed from last year when Muangthong won the league with a four point gap over PEA.
The recent failings provoked an unprecedented outburst from club owner Ravi Lohtong. After throwing away a 2-0 lead at Division 1 bound Khon Kaen last weekend the Big Boss blasted: "It's a disgrace. I have never seen such a bad performance from them. It's a shame because the whole salary of Khon Kaen players may be 30 times less than our players' salary. Khon Kaen got about 300,000 baht from ticket sales for the match and part of the money will be used to pay the players' wages. I praise them for their determination and believe they will avoid relegation [they won’t]. Our coaching staff have never learned a lesson because we have often made similar mistakes."
Despite that broadside aimed at the coaching staff from the Siamsport mogul, the club said on Tuesday – before the Navy defeat – that they expect head coach Robbie Fowler to see out his contract which expires in December 2012. We’re not betting on it.
Thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteWith "fading fast" I was referring to MTU's league form and position. Owing to MTU's past successes, they are now in a Rangers/Celtic or Madrid/Barcelona position where anything other than a top-two finish will be seen as failure. Tru, they might finish second, but it will be a very distant second MTU have never really been in the race this season; a situation for which your owner has a lot to answer for.
The sub-editor tweeked the opening sentence. I originally wrote "It's all going wrong..."