5waller5

I’d also much prefer Ric to be right!

Or Top is an incompetent child and relies on Rudkin (and is too stupid to realise that their inertia is costing them dearly)

I don’t think it’s down to arrogance, he’s just a bit thick

Ambipedal is two footed, ambidextrous is no dominant hand 🫣

It’s hardly a surprise he can’t run a football club when he can’t make money from a monopoly in the most connected airport in the world. More people hanging around, nothing to do but shop, and captive to just your retail outlets prior to getting on their next plane…. Suvarnabhumi airport might not have butterfly gardens or robot bag handlers, but it now holds the title of the world's most airline-connected airport. Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi tops global rankings as most airline-connected airport. Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok has claimed the number one spot as the airport with the most airlines operating in the world, surpassing major international hubs such as Paris Charles de Gaulle and Dubai International Airport, according to recent data from Brilliant Maps and FlightConnections as of April 16, 2025. The Bangkok-based airport currently hosts 113 airlines, offering flights to 151 destinations across 47 countries, with an annual passenger volume of over 51.6 million and approximately 484 daily flights. This achievement marks a significant milestone, reflecting Thailand’s growing importance as a regional aviation hub and a gateway for international tourism and business.

Argh one of the 2000+ keepers that used to shout “Weeeeeee ul” when Ricardo was in sticks?

Bausor?? Is he an academy keeper??

It’s still the hottest rumour we have!!

It was at this point Marti realised his boss was utterly incompetent…

I hope that MC brings in someone he really rates and makes him captain. The only player currently here, that I’d pick, would be Ricki

Good luck Martí. I actually think he’s a great appointment and think he’ll do well. As usual our Board have already used half the pre-season he could have used and will hamper him continuously.

It’s 1970 style management, and is the reason we are failing so hard. I’m beginning to really loathe Top

I heard it was something to do with his excessive use of the club hoe. Messy business!

With the benefit of hindsight, were they proved to be right or wrong??

No. Fan impatience is not to blame. We were relegation certainties 4 months ago, and have been confirmed as a Championship side 11 weeks ago. Pre-season has started and our first of only 3 games is tomorrow. Top is to blame, nobody else.

When we were relegated 3 months ago I thought that the silver lining was that we had extra time to make and execute a plan. Then I was fooled into thinking that June 6th was the day we’d execute the planned recruitment of a new leader to take us forward, us needing to be an official Championship side. I then made the mistake of thinking that we’d have to wait for July 1st to avoid the expense falling into the wrong year. But that it would certainly be then as the players were reporting back for pre-season. Then the penny finally dropped: We are owned by an incompetent child, who employs yes men and women, who would never get a job at the level they currently operate in. The incompetence, arrogance, laziness, and malaise surrounding the club is at your door Top. Please sell up.

The 1% question, complete this sequence

💙

I haven’t seen this player for 3 seasons now. Wilf absolutely epitomises our inability to sell a player after they’ve peaked and buy the younger version. The lack of successful player trading that has the club where it is, and fans defending poor players because they were good years ago

I kinda hope you’re right and I’m being too pessimistic, I can certainly see your points. I don’t think it’s a mis translation though, more a threat / reality check to AOT, that if we need to shut down the core business because we can’t make money then so be it, so don’t be unreasonable in negotiations! Post 2023 figures aren’t really available are they… but anecdotally I know a few people living in Thailand, and follow a lot of bloggers (I’m considering moving out there as I love the place). This year they are all saying there’s a steep drop off in Chinese visitors that’s made the tourist areas / restaurants / bars etc seem empty. The post Covid bounce has bounced back down it seems.

I was reminded of an expression recently that really summarises the position of KP / AOT. ”If you owe the bank £1000, and you can’t pay, you have a problem. If you owe the bank £10m and can’t pay, the bank have a problem” I suspect the numbers are large enough for it to be AOT’s problem in that scenario

I agree, their only negotiating strength is “we’ve been doing this for years and were successful before. Give it to someone else and they’ll be worse and you’ll be owed more and have another void” However, I’d imagine AOT look over at Singapore / Kuala Lumpur etc as local rivals with retail offerings that make KP look like a market stall and see it as a big opportunity to take it up a league. Depends on whether AOT are driven by fear or ambition and how much scope they have for short term pain

I agree that, at the moment, they’re looking at the non Bangkok airports for the negotiation. I’d suspect that to be a negotiation strategy and them tackling the thin end of the wedge first. ”Removing ourselves entirely from the industry” is very clear in its meaning. It definitely does not mean “we’ll close the smaller shops” I’d read it as a threat, to AOT, as to what happens if negotiations fail, the unspoken “the shutters will go down on all duty free shops including Bangkok, which will bring you down too”

Our trajectory is steep decline. We lose around £90m per season and are selling all our best players to keep the losses that low. Just how bad does it need to be for you to worry???

It’s not entirely misleading at all. KP’s business is almost entirely made up of duty free shops at Thai airports. They’ve fallen behind on the rent for those shops, and are now in the position of renegotiating the rent for those shops or breaching their contract and walking away from them. Their landlord (AOT) only makes a thin profit, and without KP’s rent makes a big loss, so room for negotiation is small, and probably not enough for both sides to make it work. However, if they don’t have an alternative retailer lined up they may have to share the suffering with KP. From KP’s perspective they will lose virtually all of their turnover without duty free. They’ll go from a $2bn (ish, and highly variable in recent years) to one of <$100m (I don’t know the turnover of their other businesses but they seem to be vanity hotels / teams / projects that are also largely loss making). KP are negotiating for the future of their business. Walking away is likely to lead to a loss of rent claim from AOT, so isn’t really an option without also going into liquidation (or whatever the equivalent process is in Thailand). To say it’s been blown out of proportion is misleading.