Pattaya United (2008)

Pattaya United FC

Ground: Nong Prue Stadium

Capacity: 5,500

Club Founded: 1989

Club Dissolved: 2018

The story of the first incarnation of a club called Pattaya United is one of a club being relocated to the seaside city before the owner decided to move them 100km for a fresh start, sparking great controversy.

Club Beginnings

The club started life as Coke-Bangpra Chonburi FC, with the name derived from their sponsors and the Bang Phra district in the town of Sri Racha in Chonburi province, where they were located.

The team played their football in the third-tier Regional League, before winning promotion to the third-tier Division One, and then going up again to the Thai Premier League in 2008. A change of name to Pattaya United followed, as the club relocated to the city, with Nong Prue Stadium becoming their home ground.

A New Start

The move attracted some exiled Europeans as home crowds increased. Grand plans were unveiled to move to a state-of-the-art 20,000-capacity stadium midway through 2010, which also included other sporting facilities. However, money ran out after construction began, so the club remained at Nong Prue.

Struggle followed a couple of decent seasons before United were relegated at the end of the 2013 season, as leading scorer Rod Dyachenco could only muster seven goals. At the end of the campaign, Red Bull announced that it would be looking to buy the club and invest heavily in it after the previous owners put it up for sale.

Ownership Change

A disappointing season in the second tier led to drastic action as the club was sold to Enigma Sport Ventures (ESV), the sporting arm of Enigma Global. The company immediately sought to improve its fortunes by appointing Brit Sean Sainsbury as head coach.

He previously worked for Muang Thong as a Reserves and Academy Head Coach. Nong Prue was renamed Dolphin Stadium and had new seating installed behind the goals, while the club colours changed to a darker shade of blue and white, and a new logo was introduced.

Final Seasons

The team won promotion back to the Thai Premier League in 2015. The goals of Júnior Negrão took the side to twelfth place in 2016, before Miloš Stojanović top-scored in 2017 under coach Surapong Kongthep, as Pattaya weighed in with an eighth-place finish. In 2018, the club's final campaign, United finished in eighth position with Lukian as the top scorer.

At the end of the 2018 season, chairman Chonsawat Asavahame decided to disband the club, but keep their license and move them to the south of Bangkok as Samut Prakan City FC. Another club, Pattaya Discovery United FC, which would later change its name to Pattaya United, filled the void.

My visit

Stadium Visit - Wednesday 23rd October 2013

It was the morning after the night before as I awoke early in Pattaya. My six-a-side cricket team, Beer Battered Seadogs, had assembled the previous evening for some team bonding.

As is usually the case when I’ve visited Pattaya, I’d drunk a lot and got into an argument with one of the songtheaw drivers trying to exploit me for what should have been a 10BHT (about 25p) fare, back from Walking Street.

The rain was teeming down, so they wanted 200 Baht. Eventually, I got back near the hotel, drenched and angry, so rather than continuing, I called it a night.

The weather the following morning was beautiful, so after a good breakfast, I decided not to waste my time in the resort, and instead head to Nongprue.

I really wasn’t sure if I’d ever visit the city again. I’d been to Pattaya numerous times and grown to dislike plenty about it, from some of the grizzled ex-pats to the mafia-like transport.

I’d even gone near Nongprue several times as I headed out to Horseshoe Point, where I’d played and assisted in the running of a couple of six-a-side cricket tournaments. However, time was always beating me, popping in, and the team always seemed to be playing away when I was there.

The taxi driver optimistically asked for an unrealistic price for a return ride. I managed to barter him down to 400 Baht return, which was still far too much, but I wanted to get the task out of the way. In fairness, it was a lot further than I anticipated, as we travelled just as far again on reaching the main Sukhumvit Road.

The stadium wasn’t too bad, although there was no spectator accommodation behind either goal; just an area of grass behind the byline and then railed fences. One side had a Main Stand that had the wings added to the original centre section.

In common with so many stadiums in Thailand, it was raised above the pitch, with tip-up seats in the centre section and facilities underneath. Again, typically for the league, the side opposite had a semi-permanent open seating deck built on scaffolding.

My driver was a decent chap as things worked out, and he came inside to save me a walk back to the street, before depositing me right outside my hotel in time for me to round up my troops.

I was interested to hear of Red Bull's investment in the club on my return home and wondered whether the planned stadium would now get the go-ahead and whether I’d muster the enthusiasm to visit if it did.