Heck with the election - what channel is Man City on?

Published on November 19, 2007

Full credit to that Thaksin Shinawatra fellow for putting all of his hard-earned money and possibly some of ours into buying the club.

And big thanks also to England's Football Association for allowing us to keep in touch with our exiled former leader as the vast green pitches and the VIP boxes high above them loom into focus on our TV screens.

Man City shot-caller Sven Goran Eriksson was in Bangkok on Thursday personally rounding up his trio of Thai talent, and hopes are high that he'll actually put them into a game once in a while. Even if it's a long wait before we see our guys passing the ball to one of the team's major stars, just having them there is a genuine morale boost.

In fact, the daily Star Soccer calls it an historic moment.

Also taking a keener interest in English football these days is the rest of the Shinawatra clan. Frank's - sorry - Thaksin's wife Khunying Pojaman has become a regular viewer since her old man bought the squad, and their son Panthongtae no longer thinks football is foolish.

"Oak", as he's called, told the reporters assembled for Erikkson's benefit on Thursday that he remembered watching Manchester United play AC Milan a few years ago, but, erm, that was it.

"Now I watch all the Man City matches and go to the stadiums to see them live," Oak said.

Yes, well, his dad did make him a director of the club, after all, but the boy does seem to enjoy his job.

"The atmosphere in the stadiums is great. I really enjoyed the derby match [Man City versus Man U] because we played at home and we were the underdogs, so it was fantastic."

Winning, he meant. Man City won.

Yep, we'll all be tuning in. Three of our football players on the field (or at least pretty close to it) and Thaksin and Oak up in the expensive seats - it's going to be like old times!