Everton and Manchester City are set for a head to head encounter in the foreign territory that they are both trying to conquor with Thailand’s Democrat Party, a fierce rival of Man City’s moneybags Thaksin Shinawatra, announcing a deal with the Toffees to coach young players in Thailand. All of which means that Man City aren’t going to be able to hoover up all the exciting talent over there…erm, hang on a sec – what talent? Or is it about the addictive and overpowering stench of filthy money?
A number of Everton coaches are scrambling over to Bangkok next month to start walking through the logistics of setting up the soccer clinics to be held by April. But Deputy Bangkok Governor Buddhipong Punnakantam denied that this was starting a Thai turf war; he said:
“This isn’t about a counter attack. Our bid to build ties with the City of Liverpool coincided with the Man City deal,”
Despite these denials have Everton beaten Man City to the punch? After all the Toffee financed soccer schools will be up and running before the Man City ones…Thailand, one of the last untapped resources for young talent…or a waste of time?