Thai Football Tales A Beautiful Madness

by Riley, Matt

• ISBN13: 9781801504980
• ISBN10: 1801504989
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-06-11
• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd

Summary

Matt Riley takes us on a fascinating and bizarre behind-the-scenes journey into the weird and wonderful world of Thai football.

Working as an English Media Officer in Thailand, Riley was given unique access, seldom granted to foreigners, to the country's most powerful clubs. Thai Football Tales: Beautiful Madness is a report on his time inside the Thai football bubble.

From spending the afternoon with Bryan Robson in the Manchester United team hotel, to persuading a player stopping off in Bangkok on the way to sign for an A League club to abandon his journey and play in Thailand, no two days were ever the same.

At a meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai when helping a friend secure a coaching contract, the chairman Matt was negotiating with jumped into a cage to wrestle a tiger. And after interviewing the ‘King of Buriram’, Riley found his every move was being watched – and filmed!

Thai Football Tales is a jaw-dropping first-hand account of a Westerner's experiences in a unique and colorful footballing culture.

Author Biography

Matt Riley worked as a journalist in Thai football for many years, appearing regularly on the Fox Sports Central nightly show beamed across Asia, before returning to England as Lecturer in Business Management at the University of Exeter. Today he writes content for Fair Game Too UK as their Regional Media Manager. His two previous books are Kit and Caboodle: Football’s Shirt Stories and Her Game Too: A Manifesto for Change.

Table of Contents

Contents
1. Lost Connections: A Love Letter to Thai Football . . 9
2. And So It Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3. The Qatar World Cup Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4. Ladies in Red. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5. Time is Money: How Matchdays Bridge the
Financial Divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6. Your Tinglish Premier League Guide . . . . . . . . 49
7. Strategic Football Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
8. Pay it Forward: Zesh Rehman . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
9. Meeting Great People along the Way . . . . . . . . 75
10. The Full English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
11. Thailand’s First Live English Commentary . . . . . 98
12. Meet Your Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
13. Not So Corporate Hospitality . . . . . . . . . . . .109
14. The Referee’s a Bomber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
15. Could This Be It? Interviewing Mr Singha Beer . . 117
16. Interviewing the King of Buriram . . . . . . . . . .121
17. AFC Champions League (Dis)qualification . . . . .128
18. Gatecrashing Manchester United’s Pity Party . . . .140
19. Tesco Lotus Tournaments. Every Little Helps. . . .144
20. The Thai Tiger King. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
21. Working for Thai League Football . . . . . . . . .158
22. I Wish I Could Be like Roland Linz . . . . . . . . .166
23. The World’s Shortest-Running TV Football Show .169
24. How Not to Be an Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
25. Man in Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
26. Paul Parker Killed My Career . . . . . . . . . . . .183
27. My Thai Football Soulmate: René Desaeyere . . . .189
28. Thailand: Where Trash-Talking Comes as Standard . . 197
29. Teaching English to Thai Players . . . . . . . . . 200
30. A Cunning Plan: Football Tourism . . . . . . . . 208
31. Goodbye to All That: A Farewell to Thai Football . .212
32. Time to Pass on the Baton . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216