Thais going back to the future?

Thavatchai Sajakul is nothing if not charismatic and now, it seems, he's making an attempted comeback into the world of sport in Thailand.

A wealthy businessman, Thavatchai always knew how to court the media by being readily accessible to the press and always willing to talk about everything and anything relating to Thai football. He was the face of the Thai teams that established the nation as South East Asian football's standard bearers in the mid-90s before a move into political office saw him vanish from the sporting landscape.

Now he's trying to return at a time when the country is split politically, a scenario that is threatening the immediate future of the country's football league, among other events.

Can Thavatchai pull everything back together? Who knows...but he can at least be guaranteed to be able to secure an audience in the media, although he has been guilty in the past of telling the press what he thinks they want to hear (he is a politician after all).

The downside is that Thavatchai is one of the old guard and is that really what Thai football needs at a time when the national team is struggling because of a lack of professionalism within the game in the kingdom? A new start with fresh faces makes more sense than dragging up the old ghosts of the past.