New Mandala readers who are following former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s most recent foray into the world of professional football may not have come across “Citeh Citeh“. It is “an underground Manchester City blog from Bangkok”. According to its blurb:
Citeh Citeh does not support Thaksin Shinawatra’s takeover of MCFC. Whilst we accept that the corruption allegations levelled against Dr Shinawatra might be politically motivated, there remain a number of serious concerns relating to human rights violations during Thaksin’s tenure as PM of Thailand.
“Citeh Citeh” consolidates much of the information about Thaksin’s efforts to take over Manchester City and provides a handy resource for anybody hoping to understand the upset that his bid has caused. It is well worth a look.
3 responses so far ↓
1 chris baker // Jul 11, 2007 at 10:47 am
A couple of weeks ago, a blog on the Guardian website had this one wonderful post:
EgalitarianDreamer, June 22, 2007 6:33 AM, Bangkok/tha
Before I could even see, my vision was tainted sky blue. Hours after I was born my Dad’s mate registered me as a junior blue (Man city junior supporters club). One of my first images is of a poster on my wall as a young boy. I remember a black guy with an afro who stood out on the team photo (I think his name was Dave Bennett?). There are plenty of picture as me as a small boy, beaming in my sky blue kit, sponsored by Phillips, or was it saab?
Throughout all of those 26 years It’s never been much fun to be a city fan. We’re the team that gets relegated, that always manages to mess everything up, that employed such footbal luminaries as Alan Ball, Frank Clarke, Phil Neal, Alfons Gronendike, Laurent Charvet and Gerry Creaney. At school it was cool to support United, but for me that made it much cooler to support City. I went even when we were in the third division and getting beat by Lincoln and Barnet. In spite of all the shit I never wavered from my dedication to the cause. We were the family club, the real manchester club. We didn’t care if we lost as long as we played with heart. While we were falling through the divisions our local rivals were cheating and moaning their way to countless trophies. Not once did I ever wish I was a United fan. They won trophies by employing players like Roy Keane, Paul Ince and Mark Hughes and having a whingeing manager with a stopwatch and a frown.
Today that has all changed.
I should be delighted. Twenty six years might be finally coming to an end. Twenty six years of no trophies, hardly any good players and public ridicule may be over as our night in shining armour has rolled into town. Thaksin Shinawat, former Prime Minister of Thailand has bought out the controlling stake in the club and promised to spend big on renovating the squad, most fans are delighted. After all of these years we may be able to compete with the big boys and win something, that should make me feel great. It doesn’t. Quite the opposite in fact.
I lived under Thaksin’s rule and saw first hand the kind of person he is and how he has made his money. I’m not sure what my favourite ‘Thaksin moment’ is, perhaps the death squads roaming the streets during his infamous ‘war on drugs’? Perhaps it was when he gave government aid to the burmese military junta in order for them to buy satellitte acess from his personal company? The destruction of democracy? The mess of an airport that stands as monument to his corruption? Mass media manipluation? Or was it him using the country as his own personal piggy bank in oder to further the wealth of him and his family? There are so many examples of that final one it’s untrue. Selling government land to his wife at a massively reduced price, subsidising his private television station with governmet money, buying a 50% stake in AirAsia in order to grant them a license to fly within the country. There are plenty more……
I can’t support him. I can’t watch Manchester City knowing that everything that I am seeing is funded by him. I won’t pay for another piece of merchandise or a ticket until he’s gone. I know it’s a big statement but I just can’t support what he stands for. If that means cutting off a part of my life which has been me since birth, then so be it. I can’t imagine watching a game and seeing that smug square faced wanker in the stands while he is wanted for arrest over here. If a man has no morals how can he truly be a man?
So that’s it. I’m an official football widower. I can never remarry, there will be no other, but my one true love has turned into a cheap whore on the arm of the local crook and I can’t overlook it. It’s like the man who raped your wife (she was a cheap hussy but that’s not the point) offering to pay for a night on the town for you to make up for it. Or the man who robbed your life savings giving you a 100 quid back to ease the pain.
I hope for all my friends and family that the team go on to do great things, win the trophies that I have dreamed about us winning, sign the players I have dreamt about us signing and thoroughly stuff United every time they play them. Maybe this is just an initial reaction and it will become easier with time. I doubt it.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/06/21/a_filthyrich_saviour_for_longs.html
2 Man City boycotting Thai tour - Page 3 - TeakDoor.com - The Thailand Forum // May 3, 2008 at 9:11 pm
[...] Originally Posted by English Noodles i got the following e-mail from a good friend who is city through and through, he lives in Thailand That exact same "e-mail" appeared on a guardian blog here and was reproduced Citeh Citeh on the Manchester City bid [...]
3 Colum Graham // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Thaksin Shinawatra is preparing to be forced off the Manchester City board under the Premier League’s fit-and-proper-person test. The former prime minister of Thailand, who has been advised to stay away from tomorrow’s home game against West Ham for his own safety, was described last night as “embarrassed” about the damage he had inflicted on City’s reputation but sent out a message, via the club’s executive chairman Garry Cook, that he was determined to remain the principal power behind the club.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/23/manchestercity.premierleague1?gusrc=rss&feed=football
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