Thaksin Flying To England For Manchester Derby

[webfact]

FUGITIVE EX-PREMIER

Thaksin flying to England for Manchester derby

Piyanart Srivalo,

Praphan Chindalert-udomdee

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to return to England for the first time since 2008 to watch Monday's crucial soccer game between Manchester United and Manchester City, his legal aide Noppadon Pattama confirmed yesterday.

British authorities shut Thaksin out in late 2008 after he was found guilty in the Ratchadaphisek land case. Before that, Thaksin had a luxurious residence in London and bought Manchester City Football Club, which he later sold to its current owners.

The UK Embassy here has kept a tight lip on the policy change towards Thaksin.

The decision to allow him back, however, coincided with him getting permission to enter countries such as Germany, France, Russia and Japan.

The British government will join its Japanese counterpart in making a late decision on Thaksin, albeit after his political party regained power in Thailand.

A source told The Nation recently that, thanks to the policy change of the British government, Thaksin could walk into any UK embassy to apply for a visa.

The Manchester derby game could decide which club would win this season's Premier League title. There are divided opinions about Thaksin among Manchester City fans. Some viewed him as a sincere investor in the club but others were highly sceptical about his political background and human rights records.

"Thaksin just wants to watch football and meet old friends," Noppadon told reporters. "There is no political motive."

-- The Nation 2012-04-27

[birdpooguava]

So Thailand is now officially the only country in the world to give any weight to the trumped up, politically motivated charges against the deposed premier.

[ianf]

So Thailand is now officially the only country in the world to give any weight to the trumped up, politically motivated charges against the deposed premier.

What planet do you live on? If these charges against Thaksin are trumped up then I'm afraid I am the world's only pregnant carrot.

[rkidlad]

So Thailand is now officially the only country in the world to give any weight to the trumped up, politically motivated charges against the deposed premier.

Wow! I wish I could do the same things he did and still get away with travelling the world with all his money. Not being able to live in Thailand would be a small price to pay for all the money I would have.

[ratcatcher]

As a fan of Sir Alex Ferguson's team, it will give me pleasure to know that Thaksin will be there hoping to see the defeat of the Red Shirts aka Man. U.

It is ironic that he will be supporting the Blues, not his favorite color I believe.

Good luck to the Red Devils.

[nurofiend]

As a fan of Sir Alex Ferguson's team, it will give me pleasure to know that Thaksin will be there hoping to see the defeat of the Red Shirts aka Man. U.

It is ironic that he will be supporting the Blues, not his favorite color I believe.

Good luck to the Red Devils.

As a supporter of the blue shirts, i hope the red shirts lose...badly.

[retarius]

How did he manage to get a ticket?

[animatic]

It will be interesting to see if England does a turn around.

[waza]

Looks like the PTP has rehabilitated Thaksins international reputation all thats left is his return to Thailand as a Hero

[Buchholz]

How did he manage to get a ticket?

No need.

The humble, thrifty, grassroots-minded, man-of-the-people spent 1.5 Billion Baht on his own modest Bombardier Global Express.

but he will need a visa.

Let's see if Noppadon is accurate for the first time in his life.

Edit to add:

realizing you might have meant a ticket to the actual game, I'm sure the salt-of-the-Earth trillionaire can find a scalper.

Say, now there's a job for his legal aide Noppadon.

"Noppadon, go make yourself useful and find me good seats.... and oh yes, make sure the Manchester City players wai me before the game."

.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Buchholz

[CHANGOVER]

I believe retarius meant how did he get a match ticket ;-)

[ianf]

Thaksin bought Man City in the mistaken belief that it was Man Utd. Then he tried to persuade his acolytes in Thailand that he actually did own United. Worth noting that the management of Man City breathed a huge sigh of relief when he left the club as the common view was that the guy was an idiot who tried to involve himself in team affairs .......

[Bagwan]

Britannia used to rule the waves, these days they waive the rules. If he is allowed entry into the UK then my contempt for the last several UK Governments, and now this one, soars to galactic heights.

[Yunla]

If its a nice sunny day in Manchester he will feel like he's back home in Dubai.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Yunla

[Moruya]

Frankly speaking (pun intended) I'm sure the City fans will love him for managing to extract all that money from them....

[Emptyset]

Frankly speaking (pun intended) I'm sure the City fans will love him for managing to extract all that money from them....

Most of them probably are thankful to him, because without him they wouldn't be where they are now. That said, I know that some city fans stopped supporting city when he took over. One of my best friends is a local lad and boyhood fan, said he just lost interest when Thaksin came in - primarily because of his human rights abuses, but also because he didn't like the idea of buying success anyway. The latter reason is romantic, but a bit silly imo - which successful teams haven't spent massive amounts of money? Granted, there are exceptions (e.g. Newcastle, Swansea, Norwich this year), but generally the teams that have the most money are the most successful...

[ianf]

Frankly speaking (pun intended) I'm sure the City fans will love him for managing to extract all that money from them....

Most of them probably are thankful to him, because without him they wouldn't be where they are now. That said, I know that some city fans stopped supporting city when he took over. One of my best friends is a local lad and boyhood fan, said he just lost interest when Thaksin came in - primarily because of his human rights abuses, but also because he didn't like the idea of buying success anyway. The latter reason is romantic, but a bit silly imo - which successful teams haven't spent massive amounts of money? Granted, there are exceptions (e.g. Newcastle, Swansea, Norwich this year), but generally the teams that have the most money are the most successful...

Which at the end of the day devalues the sport.

[Buchholz]

I believe retarius meant how did he get a match ticket ;-)

ooops.... with humble apologies to my British ancestors (and retarius).

[mic6ard]

And the point of this article is????

[Buchholz]

Thaksin bought Man City in the mistaken belief that it was Man Utd. Then he tried to persuade his acolytes in Thailand that he actually did own United. Worth noting that the management of Man City breathed a huge sigh of relief when he left the club as the common view was that the guy was an idiot who tried to involve himself in team affairs .......

Like burying his crystal balls in the grounds of the stadium?

http://www.dailymail...c-crystals.html

or the aforementioned demand that his players wai him before the game match? (caught that one, changover... )

http://www.nationmul...es_30072334.php

.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Buchholz

[WhizBang]

Is it now The Nation's policy to write an article every time Thaksin picks his nose or goes to the toilet?

Maybe a renaming of the paper is in order... 'The Thaksin Nation'.

This IS NOT news, or even worthy of any space or bandwidth.

[jonclark]

Britannia used to rule the waves, these days they waive the rules. If he is allowed entry into the UK then my contempt for the last several UK Governments, and now this one, soars to galactic heights.

Why? If Thailand and its politicians are unable or unwilling to get their own house in order, why should the UK give a shit about Taksin and his crimes - Thais clearly don't and if their happy, so be it!

[seaeagle]

Is it now The Nation's policy to write an article every time Thaksin picks his nose or goes to the toilet?

Maybe a renaming of the paper is in order... 'The Thaksin Nation'.

This IS NOT news, or even worthy of any space or bandwidth.

On the contrary - very newsworthy.

A couped, then convicted, ex-Thai PM who was thrown out of UK (but having (seemingly) travel restrictions lifted on him going to Japan, France etc), and now is apparently allowed to go back to UK, is certainly an interesting development as to his 'international rehabilitation'.

This isn;t really about going to watch a football match, it's about a person who has had severe travel and residential restrictions over the last few years, slowly being allowed back in the mainstream.

There's more to this than meets the eye, for sure. Little by little, he'll worm his way back into international acceptance, and then it will be impossible to keep him out of his home country.

[GentlemanJim]

Well, to be honest I hope the Thai authorities sort him out and that in the mean time, the UK welcomes him across the border and lets him in. My reasons are purely selfish of course. If the UK block him, the man is vindictive enough to take it out on every Brit currently living in Thailand, and I hope the FCO already assess that and act in the interests of British Citizens. Let him in to watch the footie, his day will come, it's not if but when. Better we wait and our families do not suffer than scream outrage and find your next visa stamp is not approved.

[rosecheeks]

Back when he was PM , Mr. Thaksin was desperately trying to think of ways to pretend he was a man of the people and not just a selfish super-rich money grabber. His advisers thought, most Thai men love the premier league and the sport of football is sufficiently "working class" to appeal to Somchai in the street, so let's get him involved. His first inclination was to go for the most popular team at the time , which was Liverpool. But on finding out the cost , as he doesn't spend one baht unless he gets back two , he tried to convince the people that he was buying Liverpool for the Thai people ( and using public money to do so ).

This all went t*ts up and he then moved on to Manchester city where if memory serves me, he used the money of one of his cronies from Chang beer , but still took the credit of being the owner. Of course when the oportunity arose to make a nice profit by selling to the Arabs , he jumped at the chance.

Now he is thinking of coming home ( no not China or Montenegro) he is putting his face in the limelight again pretending to still support " the blues " and hoping that his crimes will be overlooked.

[siampolee]

Could always ask a few Millwall lads to welcome Thaksin back to the U.K

[farang000999]

now that she he is back in power they are being nice to him. if there is another coup and yingluck is gone his visa will be cancelled in flight.

what, you thought the UK gave a flying **** about human rights violations?

[PoorSucker]

Will he demand the players to wai him again?

[Siam Simon]

Surely he won't be allowed in? Didn't some posters on here claim that he's banned from the UK not so long ago?

[Siam Simon]

Will he demand the players to wai him again?

Fans too, wasn't it? It's slightly ironic that he'll get short shrift from the red faction .