Thaksin at the game

[Renato_CTID]

So happy he was at the ground yesterday! All the best for him, he found our beloved Sheikh just in time!

[Socrates]

Im still shocked he sat in the normal seats.

WHY?

The club revoked his life presidency i think. Persona no grata?

Still bonkers though you'd have thought one of his helpers would have got him at least in one of the lounges.

Yeah, the guy (rightly or wrongly) has a place in the history of the club and for all his faiilings, is still remembered fondly by the fans. I suppose in the past the issue was that he was a fugitive of the law, but now his travel restrictions have been lifted I would really have thought he be treated just like any other former owner of the club - especially as he did not leave on bad terms (just rather hastily it seems).

Who knows though, it could be a whole lot murkier than we will ever know

Fugitive of the law is a bit of a matter of interpretation. Fugitive from a military junta that had overthrown the democratically elected leader is more accurate. The charges he was found guilty of were laughable, basically he was found guilty of pressurising other would be buyers when his wife was buying some land at auction - she bought it at well over market value by the way - and of his and his family's shares in the companies he had built having increased in value while he was PM (they went up at around the same rate as the stock market as a whole). Much of the money that was siezed from him was later returned. The fact that his followers have secured a further 2 landslide wins since the army went back to their barracks (to add to his own 3) should tell you he is a man with much support in the country.

[Dubaimancityfan]

I always have a chuckle about the "S" word usage.

In England there was football. Ithad no national set of rules but usually/often it allowed some form of ball handling. Rules were often set by the colleges. As a dribbling game became popular it was necessary to discriminate between the two. It was the pracyice of the English upper middle classes to shorten words and add "ER" on the end....The rules of the form of football played to the rules adopted by the Rugby School was shortened and with the "ER" on the end...it became RUGGER>
Association Football took on the name soccer in the same way.

As soccer or the dribbling code gained power it became the generic football in England. The Americans simply took the word that was a popular term already used in England SOCCER IS NOT AN AMERICANISM.

Interesting history there John which I actually came to know about only recently. Always thought the term Soccer was invented by the Yanks or by the Aussies to distinguish it from Rugby (which they called football in Oz !!) or American Football (give me a break !!).
Anyway the Aussies have finally got it right and the beautiful game has been restored to its rightful name and the Aussie Soccer governing body was renamed a few years ago as Football Australia Federation. Now when you talk about football, people know you're not talking about rugby. The success of the Aussie NT and Aussie footballers abroad in the last 10 years or so had a lot to do with that.