Thailand: home fixture

Talk about political football. Manchester City, Manchester's ‘lesser’ soccer team, has a sticky fixture in Bangkok this week. City play a Thai Premier League All Stars line-up as team manager Sven-Goran Eriksson seeks clarification on his future from club owner, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The club's tour of Thailand and Hong Kong is not just a showcase for the players. Thaksin's ownership of City, in a country addicted to televised UK Premier League matches, has been a vehicle for nurturing his bruised public image and it is peculiarly apt that Eriksson will learn his fate on Thaksin's home turf rather than in Manchester.

Since the return of his allies to political power in Thailand earlier this year, Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup, has ended a period of self-imposed exile with the odd visit home. He claims to be focusing on football and has denied that he has plans to re-enter politics. Yet his involvement in the Premiership makes a low profile role impossible.

Thaksin's involvement in soccer is as contentious as it has been in Thai politics. Despite a comparatively strong performance this season, which saw the Sky Blues beat Manchester United both home and away, Thaksin still wants Eriksson out. City fans and bosses are furious. And football fans are the worst kind of enemies. Warm support for 'Frank' -- a waggish pun on Sinatra / Shinawatra -- has given way to supporter chants of 'hey Thaksin, leave our Sven alone', sung to the tune of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Cultural misunderstandings have played their part. There was a furore in Thailand over the appearance of Thaksin's name on a Thai flag at a City match. And the club reportedly reacted with horror at requests from Thaksin for the team to bow in respect to him.

There are also problems on the pitch. The recruitment of three Thai players to the City squad last year was widely reported. Yet work permit problems mean all three are on loan in Europe, with at least two of them feeling homesick and lonely.

Off-pitch shenanigans may override the on-pitch action. That may not be a bad thing; City are in woeful form and Thailand's national team is ranked 96th in the world.