Back in Blighty

I’ve had such an amazing time in Thailand and my last week has been a bit of a whirlwind so the blogging went on hold but here’s a round up of MUTV’s last week in Thailand & Bryan’s second in the job.

On our trip we have witnessed at various times throughout the night four United matches, firstly the win over Bolton to put United top of the table, the Champions league table topping win over CSKA with that late goal from Valencia making sure that United did take all three points which unfortunately wasn’t the case against Liverpool, watched in a beach bar amongst both sets fans which made for very interesting viewing! We may have been thousands of miles away but there was no getting away from the utterly disappointing defeat. It was soon forgotten as the youngsters put on a show in the Carling Cup against Barnsley to brighten up both the damp weather & spirits.
The famous date changing FA Cup Final, finally took place & was not quite the FA cup final I thought it might be. The ‘big’ sides had all been knocked out so think of a final along the likes of Fulham v Stoke, for this reason, It was unfortunately not held in the impressive 55,000 Rajamangala National Stadium because of the low expected crowd numbers and it didn’t in fact half fill the 35,000 capacity old stadium either, but like every game we’ve been to the fans more than made up for that in noise.

Pre match preparations were slightly alternative, the national team bus (which is the home to the driver, yes he actually lives on the bus) broke down on the way several times with the much needed air con completely cutting out on us. The breakdown happened on the way to a hospital where the much loved King was recovering from illness, all the team including myself were invited to sign a book to wish him well, certainly a book signing with a difference. Pre match entertaining consisted of the boys & Bryan being taken from the hospital to a backstreet near the stadium to eat ‘roadside’ of which we paid the equivalent of 80p. There was so much more to Bangkok and our experiences of the city but there’s simply too much to write about, you'll have to watch the documentary for more. Despite the jokes from colleagues about going on 'holiday' to Thailand for 2 weeks I can assure you we worked hard spending everyday on a different shoot, sometimes with a lot of waiting around but all were great fun, particularly the Smirnoff events arranged by Manchester United’s official spirits partner, although I’m afraid we didn’t get much of a chance to drink any! The final part of our journey was enjoyed on the beautiful island of Phuket which played host to the four team Phuket Kata tournament and Bryan’s first game in charge of Thailand which ended in a 2-0 win over Myanmar champions Yadanarbon in the first match. My cameraman Ash and I embraced the rain, Robbo & his players braced themselves for another ghastly pitch and despite the conditions the side won a place in the final with a 2nil victory.

This was played against Vietnamese champions Hoang Anh Gia Lai on another very sloppy pitch which made life difficult for both sides with the Vietnamese boys losing a two goal lead taking the game to a penalty shoot out with Robson’s side successfully converting all seven of their penalty kicks to win the game! Celebration was done in front of a disappointing crowd however, with only about 1000 people braving the weather for the final.


Despite the rain, the Island was beautiful & our hotel almost paradise minus the mosquito’s, I do have a sweet tooth & am wondering if this is the reason why I seem to be so tasty…I have been bitten to death. By far the highlight of our trip was meeting a Buddhist monk who had the most amazing story to tell about his love for Manchester United and his dedication to football. He lives in a temple in Phang Nga north of Phuket and Bryan felt it important to pay him a visit as he’s known as the football monk and has raised funds for a very special project indeed. When the Tsunami struck in 2004 it took with it the hugely successful & popular Goalkeeper for the Thailand national women’s team whom the monk had supported both spiritually and with money over the years in her career. In memory he bought and built a football pitch on a piece of land at the back of the temple for local children to enjoy and to help bring together the children of different religions & backgrounds. He has dedicated his life to raising funds for the pitches upkeep & equipment and the temple even housed its own trophy room for all the youngsters achievements in tournaments over the years.

Our friend the Monk remained quietly in the background throughout our mornings filming but when he did speak he was proud to announce his all-time greatest hero was not Bryan Robson but Norman Whiteside, when we told him we would send a signed photo, his face lit up nearly as brightly as his robes.


I leave Thailand knowing the National side is in very safe hands and safe in the knowledge that our taxi driver in Phuket will be making his daily 5am jog round the mountains of Panwa Bay in an Accrington Stanley shirt (courtesy of Ash) & that there’s a monk who may even just slip on his signed Bryan Robson shirt & pray that that the national side one day may just qualify for the World Cup finals (although I think it'll take more than one monks prayers I'm afraid).

Our journey in Thailand has come to an end but for Bryan it has only just begun & it looks set to be a very exciting one at that……