Muang Thong Manager Mystery Continues
As previously reported, Muang Thong sacked head coach Carlos Carvalho just before the start of the TPL season. Since then, several big names have been linked with the top job at the champions. Former Man United player, and recently fired assistant coach at Chelsea, Ray Wilkins was reportedly in the frame until his wage demands put MTU off. Winfried Schäfer, who led Cameroon to the 2002 African Nations Cup, has also been linked with the post. His last job was at FK Baku of Azerbaijan until they parted company in January. The matter seemed to be settled on Wednesday when Vietnam’s head coach Henrique Calisto left the job he had held since 2008 and declared that he was indeed the new MTU head coach. But there has only been silence from the Twin Qilins since Calisto made his announcement. If the deal is done and dusted then why would MTU keep quiet about it? Despite Calisto’s claims, it seems that Muang Thong’s manager merry-go-round hasn’t stopped revolving yet.

Mystery Figures
Remarkable claims surfaced after the Thailand v Palestine Olympic Qualifier that there were plain-clothes agents monitoring and threatening the Cheer Thai national team supporters club during the match to stop them from chanting "Worawi ok bai!" The embattled FAT president Worawi Makudi has been the target of ever-increasing protests as CheerThai, amongst others, have been calling for his resignation. We were at the nearly empty stadium and can’t say we saw anything untoward but we have enough shadowy figures in politics without them creeping into football as well.

AFC Cup Roundup
The TPL’s representatives in the AFC Cup, Muang Thong and Chonburi, played their first group games on Wednesday evening. The champions, who dropped into the competition after exiting the Champions League at the first stage, comfortably saw off Hanoi T&T. New signing Anon Sangsanoi was among the goals as MTU thrashed the Vietnamese side 4-0. Chonburi also scored four, but so did their opponents! In a see-saw match, the Sharks went 2-0 down away at East Bengal. They then turned the match on its head by scoring four goals in twenty-three minutes. But the side from Kolkata scored twice more to claim a dramatic point.

This Weekend  
Finally, we’re not ashamed to admit our ignorance. We have absolutely no idea why there are no scheduled TPL matches this weekend! The only two games being played are those postponed from the first weekend of the season, and one is in the capital. That’s at the Army Stadium on Saturday at 18:00 where Army United host Muang Thong United. Osotspa host Khon Kaen in the other fixture.