As Sasom Popprasert makes the move from coach of Thai Port to Second Division team Buriram F.C Monruedee Jansuttipan talked to the former midfielder and True soccer pundit about the reasons behind his move and his ambitions for the future in part one of our two part interview.

So why did you decide to take the job at Buriram?
As I’ve already said it’s because we need to divide up the burden of Thai Port’s debt.

How exactly?

The election for the Football Association finally took place today, and to no-one’s real surprise it was incumbent Worawi Makudee who was reelected with a massive majority.

It was a tumultuous weekend of action in the last round of matches before the mid-season break. Results on the field were overshadowed by the news that seven fans of Chiang Rai FC had died in a bus accident on the way to watch their team take on Buriram PEA on Saturday.

So Buriram are mortal after all, as they finally recorded their first defeat of the season, at the 16th time of asking, when they went down 1-0 away to Sisaket FC. Still the surprise defeat will probably have little effect to their title charge in the long run as all their closest challengers failed to take advantage of this unusual slip. Second place Chonburi could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to bitter rivals Muangthong United, which means they remain seven points behind Buriram with only one game in hand.

A weekend that saw four of the capital’s main clubs playing each other left BEC Tero and Police United’s title bids suffer serious setbacks. Especially as the league leaders Buriram PEA maintained their hugely impressive form, with a 1-0 win over Sri Racha FC on Saturday. The win puts PEA a full 8 points ahead of closest chasers Chonburi who could only draw 1-1 with local rivals Pattaya FC.

Buriram looked to tighten their vice like grip on the top spot with a comfortable 4-0 away win at SCG Samut Songkhram - thanks to a hat trick by impressive Cameroonian striker Franck Ohandza. It gives Buriram a 6 point lead over nearest rivals Chonburi whose scheduled game against Army United was postponed to give them time to prepare for the AFC Cup games this week.

Muangthong United put a serious dent in local rivals BEC Tero’s title aspirations after a well-deserved 1-0 victory at the Yamaha Stadium on Saturday. They left it late though, having to wait until the 83rd minute for Jakkraphan Pornsai’s goal to cement their overall dominance. The defeat sees BEC slip to fourth, just one point ahead of Muangthong and the Fire Dragons are now eight points behind leaders Buriram.

Muanghthong and Chonburi both cruised into the next round of the AFC Cup securing top spots in their respective groups after easy midweek wins. FA Cup winners Chonburi secured an comfortable 3-0 victory over South China of Hong Kong to clinch the Group H title and get the privelege of playing at home in the last 16 round of one-off games. It's a privelege that will be shared by Muangthong United who put indifferent league form behind them to beat Tampines Rovers of Singapore 4-0 and secure top spot in Group G.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for the Football Authority of Thailand as the current elections for the position of president have  descended into farce. Last Friday's general meeting, where the vote on a new president was going to take place was called off at the last minute by current acting FAT president Worawi Makudi who cited problems over club representatives having the correct documents.