How many baht is Robbie Fowler worth?
Just how much is one time darling of the Kop, Robbie Fowler, worth to Thai football? Asia Correspondent John Sparks blogs on meeting the newest signing to Muang Thong United.
By the time I met Robbie Fowler he’d had just about enough. “I want to sleep, let me get some sleep,” he said to the General Manager of Muang Thong United. He didn’t bother to keep his voice down.
The former Liverpool striker was on his third day of interviews in the Thai capital Bangkok, which included an early morning appearance the anarchic “Woody” breakfast show.
“Are you going to be a good boy in Thailand?” asked Woody. “Oh yeah, I’m a good boy” responded Mr Fowler. He told me he had been surprised by the level of interest – but his patience was wearing thin.
The one-time darling of ‘the Kop’ is now a journeyman footballer. He has just finished two years in the Australian ‘A League’ – not a particularly happy time for him I gathered. The 36-year-old has now got himself a one year contract with Muang Thong – a deal he negotiated himself.
At this stage in his career, commission-hungry agents are just a frivolous extra – not that there was a whole lot of negotiating to do. The club general manager, Ronnarit Seuvaja said, “we told him what we could afford and he said yes. That was it.”
What about the cost of an ageing striker, lacking in foot speed but packing a premier league pedigree? Twenty-five to twenty-seven million baht – for one year of footballing services.
I’ll save you from having to rumble around your desk for a calculator – it works out to roughly half a million pounds. Not too shabby. (Note: no one in Thailand, which imposes some of the toughest drug laws on the planet, seems to remember him ‘sniffing the goal-line’ – a cocaine-simulation celebration after scoring a penalty against Everton in 1999).
It is a huge sum for Muang Thong and a gamble for the folks who run the Thai premier league. There are eighteen clubs in the country’s one and only division including a number that are sponsored by the government – including Thai Port FC (representing the Port Authority), Army United and Police United. Many have to share stadia.
The facilities are generally poor with flood-lights and good quality pitches in short supply. The refreshingly candid president of the League, Dr Vichit Yamboonraung told me that some clubs don’t seem to understand that a nice, flat field with grass on it is important part of the “premier league” package.
Still, the league has only been in existence for three years and suffers from stiff overseas competition – namely in the form of the English Premier League. Pictures of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard are plastered on buildings and beer cans in Bangkok.
Thai companies compete to become “global-partners” with England’s biggest footballing brands. The sad fact for those involved in the domestic league is that most Thais – who are by the way, football crazy – would rather watch (and gamble on) the English game.
The “Fowler calculation” is a simple one: bums on seats – and merchandise out the door. Nobody I spoke to seemed overly concerned that the Toxteth-native might be here solely to plump-up his pension.
Instead, Mr Seuvaja wants all those Liverpool FC fans in Thailand to give Muang Thong United a try.
“What we offer is real,” he said, “it’s real football.”
His point is this: by having to watch football from the couch or the local Sports Bar, thousands of miles from an English premier league ground, Thais (and other Asians) are denied the opportunity to “participate” in the ups and downs of club life.
Not that many people here on this side of the world seem to care. Last week Liverpool was greeted with near-religious fervour in neighbouring China – likewise for Arsenal in Malaysia. Tens of thousands turned out just to watch ‘their idols’ do some training. Chelsea is due in the Thai capital this weekend.
What the folks at Muang Thong United would give for a slice of that support. Yet things are looking up at the “Thunderdome Stadium”. The stands are looking spotless, the pitch is both flat and grassy and shirt-sales up are 100 per cent.
General Manager Ronnarit Seuvaja told me the club has already raked in around two million baht from merchandise, thanks to Mr Fowler’s arrival. That makes twenty-three million baht to go.
“Not a problem,” says the always optimistic Mr Seuvaja.
