Thaksin’s Double Eriksson

It was an unavoidable event, the return of Thaksin to Thailand. Well, he sent his ambassador Sven-Göran Eriksson first.

But Thakins’s nominees of the People Power Party PPP have already made clear: Their main aim is not politics per se. But to bring back the old demagogue.

The recent Bangkok visit of Eriksson was a teaser, a foretaste of what’s to come.

Read Eriksson’s visit to Thailand the way you want, but it was another ingenious strike of panem et circenses by the disgraced former prime minister.

Honorable Sven-Göran Eriksson lowered himself to act as the political marionette of “Dr. Thaksin”, as the Swede calls the great puppet master.

In case we forgot: Thaksin Shinawatra holds a PhD in criminal law from a Texas university. From where, as Thaksin once said, he got his “Texas style of leadership.” As he “adores George W. Bush. We are both Texans.”

And in case we also forgot: Eriksson is a man of quite many talents. We all know about his reported sexual appetite. Eriksson is o man who absolutely sticks to the ideals of society.

But Eriksson didn’t seem to fully grasp the meaning of his trip to Bangkok … Yeah, right. He signed up three Thai players whose names he wasn’t properly aware of.

But hey. Such a “historical” visit of one of the world’s top coaches would be celebrated with the presence of Thai ministers. The only “officials” at Eriksson’s press conference in the posh Conrad hotel though were the Chon Buri Football Club and representatives of Thailand’s Football Association.

And it was pure coincidence that Thaksin’s speech to PPP’s supporters and Eriksson’s Bangkok appearance fell on the very same day.

Eriksson remained friendly and polite, slowly realizing though that his visit was reeking of politics. That, while in Thailand, he functions as a double of his Thai boss. Wherever he showed up, so did cardboard models of Thaksin.

For Thailand, Thaksin and Eriksson become inseparable.

But Eriksson should have known better.

There were fewer club fans to greet him than security guards and supporters of club owner Thaksin. The people of Thailand had spoken loud and clearly in the August referendum – a referendum held under martial law. What clearer public mandate could the putsch have gotten.

But with the Blues’ move into Bangkok it’s hard for the Thai public to tell innocent sport from dirty money politics.

As Eriksson is Thaksin’s perfect ambassador. A distinguished, quiet Swede who never loses his cool.

At the Conrad’s nearly two-hour luncheon, Eriksson hardly spoke a word. What more could Thaksin ask for.

Unassailable Eriksson mainly represents. His blue shirt and a blue-and-yellow tie bearing a Thai royal emblem even enhanced this act.

The whole Manchester City Football Club plot works perfectly well so far. A football team and football players unwillingly blur the fine line between facts and claims.

Thaksin looks like the great patriot again. Like the great democrat who brought Thailand an era of wealth and prosperity. And democracy

Key to this Fata Morgana is the quiet Swede Eriksson – who in return owes so much to the deep pockets of Thaksin.

A perfect symbiosis.

As Thaksin’s acquisition of the Blues was not only a reaction to boredom in exile. The acquisition is part of a grand populist master plan. “Buying Manchester City was a move of utter genius,” a member in a forum wrote. “However odious that little man is you have to give him credit for his acquisition of a major Premiership club and the constant thorn in the side of this junta it provides.”

Pretty predictable what happens if the Blues win the Premiership.

Rather sooner than later the “Thai patriot” will be back – feverishly celebrated and utterly hated by a nation more divided than ever.