It Ain't Over Till It's Over
By Matt Riley
There are few world leagues where, a week after the season ends, growing doubts persist about who will be relegated and who will survive. But This Is Thailand. There are two variables we know about. Singhtarua were slapped with a nine point deduction for their part in the shocking scenes in a recent game against SCG Muang Thong United. If that stands (and one appeal has already been rejected) they would be two points above relegation. However, they also have the threat of six further points deducted by FIFA for unpaid wages to former player Matias Christen and that is where it gets very interesting...
Despite their generally abysmal press, FIFA can be decisive and consistent with issues about non payment of players and coaches. It was enlightening to read the notes from Laos national coach Dave Booths's hearing into his unpaid salary from Sisaket AKA Esan United. To cut a very long story short, Booth had his contract terminated and requested a percentage of the money he was owed. The club said that percentage would be round and look like a bagel so he was forced to go to FIFA. Meeting in London's Mayfair Hotel, the hearing was breathtakingly decisive and forceful. The club would, in the first instance, pay Booth $225,000 (far more than he had requested) or be hit with a sliding scale of punishments ending in the club being dissolved. After grandstanding and showing petty defiance, the club coughed up and FIFA had bitten hard with sharp teeth.
Reading through the meeting's minutes made me wish they could show that moral leadership more often, instead of industrial graft. So Singhtarua need to be on guard and, unlike Sisaket, respond quickly to the early messages or get ready to feel the full force of FIFA. If they lose those extra six points they will enter the relegation zone and, very conveniently, nudge the highly-connected Police United back into safety.
There is a second option open to the Thai FA. The other politically powerful team (PTT Rayong) came in just below Police, so a post-season return to three relegation spots instead of five would solve many of the FAT's problems. Of course it would also bloat the TPL for another season, but contradiction is their stock in trade and there has been a precedent. In 2010 Army United finished bottom of the league but, thanks to a hastily-arranged league expansion, they were given time to bolster their squad before winning the playoffs and surviving, despite finishing the regular season ten points from safety.
The conspiracy theories in Thai football take hold because of the previous Dark Arts and current practices like the depressingly predictable linesman's flag that prevented Chonburi taking the title. If the FAT decide to spare Police and Rayong they will reward their paymasters, but hammer another nail into the public's confidence. Why not publish next season's final table now and cut out the middle men?
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