Season 2023 – 2024 Season and the start of our podcast.
After four seasons of following Chiang Mai FC home and away in Thai League 2 including one brief, inglorious, season in Thai League 1 Simon and I decide to start a podcast to cover the club’s 2023-2024 season under the club’s new local ownership.
Before this season I would write match previews and match reports – posted onto the CMFCEnglish facebook page – I also took over the administration of the page when others, who had worked so hard to build up the page to some 10,000 followers, simply no longer had the time.
The facebook page was fun for a while – but time consuming at least to do it well while also setting up the podcast.
There was also the issue of whether I was writing as a supporter or a reporter. My first published match report was as a ten year old at an FA Amateur Cup Final. Ten years later I was sports editor of “Incant” our very fine University of Kent newspaper and later wrote a newsletter for the Toronto Services Soccer League.
So reporter first – supporter second. If something was wrong at the club then it should be called out not glossed over. Regurgitating the official story from the club was never going to satisfy my curiosity for what was really happening.
And as it turned out 2023/2024 was a year of undiluted soap opera. Coaches were fired, staff not paid, players not paid, suppliers not paid. At the end of the year, with the club in massive debt and the owner in hiding, the club was relegated to T3 for failing to meet licensing requirements.
The club’s very existence was in doubt. A deal orchestrated by the Sports Authority of Thailand tried to bring together Brazilian investors with an amateur team and sports academy – Christ FC – based in Mae Rim in the North of Chiang Mai. This partnership would adopt the name of Chiang Mai FC. Half way through the T3 season the Brazilian investors and sponsors were moved. New Thai sponsors, Ichitan, were found.
In the meantime our podcast has evolved to a broader coverage of Thai Leagues 2 and 3. Phil Williams has joined us and is a very welcome co-presenter. One of the lessons from last year was not to take our Thai football too seriously – a great way to avoid disappointment.
Thank you for listening. If you have any comments or suggestions please let us know. Email: robert@rascott.com or you can find all of us on social media.
Links for the 2023-2024 season’s podcasts are below – the most recent at the top. Thank you so much for listening.
All the best,
Phil, Simon and Rob