With further developments in the Thaksin Shinawatra takeover saga yesterday, is it time that the club now pulled the plug on negotiations with him?
After having had several of his bank accounts frozen last week, his advisor announced that the takeover deal was still on - but this left the club to supposedly 'demand assurances' from him that he could still complete a deal.
Now comes the news that Shinawatra and his wife have been ordered back to Thailand to face further charges of concealing assets, and must do so before June 29th.
Despite all of this, there were further assurances that the takeover is again at an 'advanced stage' and a £120 million bid could be imminent - all of this linked in with the search for a new manager.
Shinawatra (and his wife) may well be innocent of all charges, but the interest generated by the takeover has hardly been positive for the club, and should he complete a takeover could well be damaging in the long term as media interest would surely increase should he become the new owner.
From afar, it appears that in Thailand there is currently a very political battle going on between Shinawatra and the new rulers of the country, with Shinawatra seemingly keen to trade on his populist status whilst the military rulers are seemingly determined to crush Shinawatra. The problem in all of this is that the club, our club, is in danger of being used as a political pawn in this battle.
If he does complete a takeover then it will hardly be the end of investigations into his time as PM, and the same people who are currently gunning for him may well only step up their attempts to discredit him if his ownership of the club portrays him in a good light with the Thai people.
Regardless of the financial impact he may be able to bring to the club - and the undeniable fact that the current regime have thrown everything into the Shinawatra lot (including sacking a manager), is it now time to reconsider our dealings with him and cut our losses before we get further along into something which could have an altogether more signifcant impact further down the line?
After having had several of his bank accounts frozen last week, his advisor announced that the takeover deal was still on - but this left the club to supposedly 'demand assurances' from him that he could still complete a deal.
Now comes the news that Shinawatra and his wife have been ordered back to Thailand to face further charges of concealing assets, and must do so before June 29th.
Despite all of this, there were further assurances that the takeover is again at an 'advanced stage' and a £120 million bid could be imminent - all of this linked in with the search for a new manager.
Shinawatra (and his wife) may well be innocent of all charges, but the interest generated by the takeover has hardly been positive for the club, and should he complete a takeover could well be damaging in the long term as media interest would surely increase should he become the new owner.
From afar, it appears that in Thailand there is currently a very political battle going on between Shinawatra and the new rulers of the country, with Shinawatra seemingly keen to trade on his populist status whilst the military rulers are seemingly determined to crush Shinawatra. The problem in all of this is that the club, our club, is in danger of being used as a political pawn in this battle.
If he does complete a takeover then it will hardly be the end of investigations into his time as PM, and the same people who are currently gunning for him may well only step up their attempts to discredit him if his ownership of the club portrays him in a good light with the Thai people.
Regardless of the financial impact he may be able to bring to the club - and the undeniable fact that the current regime have thrown everything into the Shinawatra lot (including sacking a manager), is it now time to reconsider our dealings with him and cut our losses before we get further along into something which could have an altogether more signifcant impact further down the line?