2012 budgets

It's debatable how much value to place on either attendance figures or team budgets in Thai football, as both seem to be simply speculation on behalf of the clubs themselves.

It's also unclear exactly what constitutes an official budget expense. In 2011 I'd wager our salary expenses dwarfed that of any other club but was that part of our 90M budget? It's equally possible we paid out more in transfer fees than any other team but we failed to win a trophy for the first time in years. It's just goes to show that a high budget helps a heck of a lot but that alone isn't enough to guarantee success.

In any case, MTU's budget has been announced as in excess of 100M for this season. Buriram United and BEC Tero announced the same bracket. BEC Tero are planning big things this year and a well known figure in Thai football could link up with them soon.

I've mentioned a couple of times that Chonburi could fall behind in the trophy race and their budget for 2012 is set at 80M. Like I said though, money isn't everything. BG have declared their budget at a slightly disappointing 60M. Troubled Thai Port have set the purse at 40M. It would be very sad to see TP drop out of the TPL as they are a club with real character and great support.

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With the new foreigners rule set out by the TFA, perhaps the blow of Zesh's departure has been lessened a little.

Our first team foreigners now are:
Christian - African (a must-keep)
Robbie - European
Issaoufao - African
Dagno - African (must-keep)
Adan Barakat - European
Ali Diarra - African

That gives us a total of six with no Asians that I can think of. At least one player has to go, perhaps one more if a certain famous European player joins us. The obvious option to go is Fowler, who could (and should) retire as a player. The second choice is harder but the most likely option would be Bobocar Issafaou who is still officially out on loan but did show signs of promise towards the end of his stint with us this season.