As most of us are not experts on Asian football, you would be forgiven for thinking that Muangthong is a new line of male lingerie from Ann Summers. The Thai football club are far from a household name in Europe (and the rest of the world for that matter), but one Scouse striker has taken on the challenge of changing that. Robbie Fowler was unveiled this week as the club’s latest recruit; but is this a coup for the team known as The Twin Qilins, or further proof that Asian teams are still a long way off the pace?
Fowler is not the first “high profile” signing for an Asian club this transfer window, as Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande announced the capture of Argentine midfielder Dario Conca from Fluminense, and in the process made him the third-highest paid player in the world. Whilst Fowler’s wages may be nowhere near that figure according to speculation, Muangthong United are no peasants and are regarded as one of the richest clubs in the country.
United’s rise to the top has been a very steep one. They gained back-to-back promotions from the third and second tiers of Thai football in 2007 and 2008 respectively and the club wasted no time making an impact in the top flight, winning the Thai Premier League in 2009 and 2010. With this in mind, there will be an instant expectancy on the ex-Liverpool striker to perform. Yes, he’s played in far more grueling leagues than this, but at 36 years old he’s no spring chicken.
His imaginary cocaine-sniffing celebration and Graeme Le Saux rump-waggling days seem to be behind him, but even with a clear mind he may not be able to adapt to the league straight away. It’s probably not going to be as difficult a move for Fowler as a South American moving to the fast-paced and physically demanding level of the English Premier League, but it may come as a culture shock to the Toxteth-born forward.
Although he has played in Australia since 2009, it will be the first time Fowler has lived in a country that doesn’t speak English as its first language. It may prove to be nothing more than a slight inconvenience, but there have been recent examples of serious settling in problems with the likes of Darius Vassell lasting only one season at Ankaragucu, as well as rumours circling that ex-Rangers frontman Kenny Miller has also had enough of Turkish football after just one year.
In his press conference, Fowler stated that the standard of football in Thailand is “getting better”, and went on to say that “with me being here, hopefully that can progress a little bit more, too.” Without doing Robbie too much of a disservice, if a player such as himself enhances the quality of the football being played, what was the standard like previously?
Maybe he intended the comment to be more of an invite to other European players to make the leap to the Thai Premier League, but for the time being it may be a lonely spell for Fowler. Having signed just a one-year deal with the club described as the Thai Manchester United, it may only be a relatively short stay in South-East Asia, further backed up by the fact that he seemed more interested in looking at his phone than answering the questions of journalists. Perhaps he’d been taking lessons from Ronnie O’Sullivan on how to handle the Asian media?
Either way, the supporters seem more than happy with the signing of the former England international. Muangthong’s fans are renowned as some of the most passionate and vocal in Thailand, referring to themselves as Ultra Muangthong. I can hear the chants now: “Fe-rry, across the Ta-pi!”
This is a guest post by Aaron Butchers - follow him on Twitter: @footybutch