That Was the Year That Was
by Peter Reeves
Twelve months can be a short time or a long time. It depends on how you view it. “What has been improved, achieved, what are we failing at, have we become better, what lessons have we learned, where are we now in terms of where we were last year and where we want to be, are the fans happy?” are questions that are normally asked of those with stewardship. Those questions will likely never be asked and certainly not answered by, any organization that is not, or think they are not, actually responsible to anyone.
Another season comes, albeit prematurely, to a close. How has Thai football performed? At the end of last season a new administration for the PL. Selected by a vote to run the higher levels of the game by ‘someone’, but whoever the ‘someone’ was didn’t make the appointment for footballing reasons. If they had they wouldn’t have appointed people who knew more about the dark side of the moon than football. The other option a contender who allegedly was in the pocket of the disgraced Worawi Makudi. Not much of a choice really. A bit like the forthcoming US election. Could they not find a better alternative to run the game?
Within weeks the management and leadership needed to sort out just about everything, threw Thai football into chaos with suggestions of expanding the PL. To improve standards (it actually lowers them) they said. Threats, posturing, finger-pointing, accusations of favouritism and bias, potential law suits, a new Thai ‘soap’ was born. Not a good start presumably instigated by people used to getting their own way. Late, chaotic start to the season while ‘tail between legs’ they retreated and left things as they were.
Management and leadership are easily defined. Management is doing things right and leadership doing the right things. Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. Going after referees for poor performance is not putting first things first I’m afraid. They didn’t know what they were doing.
Nearly a year on where are we. Not dissimilar. More threats, posturing, potential law suits, Cup competitions decided by lottery, promotion and relegation not finalized by results, etc., etc. The tragic and sad passing of His Majesty the King brought an outpouring of grief by the nation and rightly so. A great man who has demonstrated by actions over decades his love for his people. On the back of this understandable grief decisions were made, and whilst I applaud the swiftness of the decisions taken by the Thai FA and the PLT, they were the wrong decisions. Total cancellation was not necessary, just a suitable and mutually agreed period of time to mourn and show dignified respect to their departed and beloved King.
The government themselves made the same point but despite a quickly convened meeting to try and resolve the matter the ‘clubs’ said no, we finish. Who is actually running the game then? They had backed themselves into a corner and given other agendas the opportunity to influence. I understand the shock wave sent through the country is an experience that most Thai’s tried not to consider. When faced with it though, management and leadership need to show the same dignity and leadership the Great Man showed in his life. Reducing it all to arguments and threats in the light of such a national tragedy is not very respectful or dignified.
Nevertheless the administrators of the game in Thailand have once again thrown it all into chaos and created uncertainty. Bad management. No leadership. We don’t need to discuss them further. Proof of the pudding and all that. On the pitch, Bangkok United played the best football I saw, courtesy of a few foreigners and a very good foreign coach and coaching team and the Thailand national team are currently receiving a wake-up call that indicates perhaps their opinions of themselves are slightly out of step with reality.
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