Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in talks to purchase another professional English football club, and sources say that he’s ready to pay a pretty pound for it.
Thaksin is currently negotiating details including cost, management and other details to take possession of South London’s Crystal Palace F.C., in a deal expected to be concluded soon, a former Thai football official told One Channel.
“They’re in another class, another standard, but it would still be a pleasure for me, and for Thais, to own a world-class football club,” said Miti Tiyapairat, a former Chiangrai United president.
Miti, who boasts a wealth of experience in the biz, said he is being considered for the role of team manager.
Thaksin’s offer is estimated to be in the vicinity of GPB150 million (THB6 billion).
Despite one of English football’s greatest stories in recent years coming from a Thai-owned club, the prospect of Thaksin’s pending acquisition of the team isn’t sitting well with all fans.
“Not for me. His past history is awful and we don’t want to be associated with it tbh,” Emma Noakes wrote this morning on a team fan page.
Crystal Palace F.C. was founded in 1905 and went on to become one of the original founding members of the Premier League. They’ve reached the FA Cup Finals twice, finishing both times as runner-ups to Manchester United.
It wouldn’t be Thaksin’s first British club. After making two unsuccessful bids for Premier League teams Fulham and Liverpool while he was in office, Thaksin bought Manchester City in 2007 for GBP81.6 million (about THB3.3 billion) after being ousted in the 2006 coup. He turned a tidy profit when he sold the club to gulf state investors one year later.
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