It’s been a busy week in Thai football for English coaches but not a good one as two big name managers leave their roles, albeit for very different reasons.
On Wednesday, FAT President Worawi Makudi revealed that Bryan Robson had handed in a letter of resignation and that it had been accepted by the FAT. Assistant coach Steve Darby will also be following Robson out of the door. Robson led Thailand to the quarter finals at the 2010 Asian Games, but has been under increasing pressure since the national team’s failure to get beyond the group stage at the AFF Suzuki Cup late last year. His position seemed untenable when Worawi Makudi said Robson would be sacked if Thailand didn’t qualify for the 2014 World Cup (yes, seriously!), and Makudi’s challenger for the FAT presidency Pichet Mankong said he would sack Robson immediately if he won the presidential election. The former Manchester United midfielder also had a cancer scare in March, an illness that will require further treatment in the future. When you consider that and the power struggle going on at the FAT at the moment, then you really can’t blame him for throwing in the towel.
Robson’s news follows the announcement on Monday that BEC Tero Sasana had fired head coach Peter Butler. The former West Ham player and Halifax coach got off to a great start at Tero – the Fire Dragons even looked like possible title contenders in the first quarter of the season – but a dreadful recent run of results has led to the perhaps inevitable dismissal.
He is the last managerial mover in the TPL following the news last week that Thai Port manager Sasom Pobprasert has decided to jump on the Newin bandwagon up North taking over at League Division One side Buriram FC. Port will be grateful for the great job he’s done at the club which has included league cup and FA Cup wins. They’ll also be thankful for the decent run of form as it looks very likely that many of the club’s best players will be following Sasom up to Buriram in the mid-season break. Stay tuned for an interview with Sasom very soon.

TOT set to go home after the midseason break
TOT officials have confirmed that the club will move from Nonthaburi back to Bangkok for the second half of the season now that redevelopment work has been completed on their home stadium in Chaeng Wattana, Lak Si. It’s another boost for a club which has managed to turn things around on the pitch after a dreadful start to the season. TOT have been ground-sharing with Muangthong in Nonthaburi since 2009. They also had a short-lived stay in Kanchanaburi in the first half of the 2009 season, and were on the verge of moving to Nakhon Ratchasima before the start of the current season when an ownership dispute left the club with no choice but to stay in Nonthaburi.