Thai Football Tales
Matt Riley takes us on a fascinating and bizarre behind-the-scenes journey into the weird and wonderful world of Thai football.
Working as an English Media Officer in Thailand, Riley was given unique access, seldom granted to foreigners, to the country's most powerful clubs. Thai Football Tales: Beautiful Madness is a report on his time inside the Thai football bubble.
From spending the afternoon with Bryan Robson in the Manchester United team hotel, to persuading a player stopping off in Bangkok on the way to sign for an A League club to abandon his journey and play in Thailand, no two days were ever the same.
At a meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai when helping a friend secure a coaching contract, the chairman Matt was negotiating with jumped into a cage to wrestle a tiger. And after interviewing the ‘King of Buriram’, Riley found his every move was being watched – and filmed!
Thai Football Tales is a jaw-dropping first-hand account of a Westerner's experiences in a unique and colourful footballing culture.
Matt Riley worked as a journalist in Thai football for many years, appearing regularly on the Fox Sports Central nightly show beamed across Asia, before returning to England as Lecturer in Business Management at the University of Exeter. Today he writes content for Fair Game Too UK as their Regional Media Manager. His two previous books are Kit and Caboodle: Football’s Shirt Stories and Her Game Too: A Manifesto for Change.