Thailand to query Thai flag with name of Thaksin at Man City

Wanderlust

Only just seen this so apologies if already posted - copy/paste from The Nation.

Thailand to ask Man City FC about Thai flag with name of Thaksin
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said Tuesday he would contact Manchester City Football Club to investigate how a Thai national flag bearing the name "Thaksin" was displayed at the club's stadium.

Matichon newspaper published a picture of the flag taken as City lost 3-2 to Fulham at the City of Manchester Stadium in the English Premier League last Saturday.

Noppadon said it was a sensitive issue among Thai people. He believed the club would cooperate with the ministry to ban the improper act.

"Thaksin [Shinawatra] is unlikely to be involved in what we saw," he said. It could have been done by City supporters who didn't realise that it was improper to Thais, he added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said printing the name of "Thaksin" on the national flag was inappropriate. He has asked his aides to look into the matter, but believes local supporters were responsible.

The point was whether Thaksin saw the flag with his name, Samak said. He believed Thaksin would have ordered club officials to take it down if he had seen it because it would ruin his image. Samak urged Thaksin to clarify the incident when he returns to Thailand.

Thaksin's spokeswoman Sansanee Narkphong said the flag could have been placed on the terrace by local supporters. She appealed for Thais to wait until the truth was revealed otherwise they could become the tool of a group who want to ruin Thaksin.

It seems to me that we could apply some Thai logic to this one - if Thaksin wasn't there then it wouldn't have happened, therefore it is Thaksin's fault.... Shoot em up

buksida · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:49 am Post subject:

I don't think English soccer fans or the media there give a rats arse about Thai sensitivities. IMO it was another publicity stunt by square head.
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DawnHRD · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 11:08 am Post subject:

Yep. Then he could deny any knowledge of it and say (as he did, from BKK Post today) "Some English fans of City did it because they love Thailand and love their club. It's a different culture there." Rolling Eyes

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STEVE G · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 12:14 pm Post subject:

There were a couple of pictures of this flag at the time in the press and it’s a storm in a tea-cup. It was obviously just a small homemade thing that fans had displayed and no different from all the Union-jacks and St. Georges flags you see at football grounds with messages and fan-club names attached.