Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Police Tero

 


Police Tero FC is a football club, based in the Lak Si district of Bangkok. The current title of the club came about following a merger with Police United in 2017, after that particular club had been previously dissolved owing to financial troubles.











Police came to Tero's rescue by offering them a home ground. The Thai League 1 rules state that clubs cannot share grounds. When Thai Honda was promoted in 2016 they did a deal to use 72-years Anniversary Stadium in Minburi, leaving Tero homeless.


The club moved to Lak Si to use Boonyachinda Stadium, which is part of the Royal Thai Police Sport Club from where a merger was agreed with the reformed Police United, with the club name being changed for the 2018 season with a new nickname of 'The Silver Shield Dragons' being adopted.

A look at the history of Police United along with a visit to a match while they were residents at Thammasat Stadium, can be viewed here.


The origins of the current club can be traced back to 1979, as they originally went by the name of Sasana Witthaya School. After a few years of playing cup football, the club joined the Thai League in 1996.

It was at that time that the club's founder Mr. Worawi Makudi came to a deal with the Managing Director of BEC-TERO Entertainment Co Ltd, Mr Brian Marcar with the club being renamed FC Tero Sasana; also known as Singha Tero Sasana. 


The following year BEC-World Public Company Limited got involved with the club, with them changing their title once again to acknowledge the fact. 

'The Fire Dragons' reached the FA Cup Final and entered the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Champions League after finishing third in the league, before Jason Withe, son of former Aston Villa and England striker Peter Withe took over the coaching reigns and led Tero Sasana to the TPL title in 2000. He moved aside and Thai, Pichai Pituwong's side retained the title.



The club finished TPL runners-up for the following two seasons and then appointed Englishman David Booth as coach, and then two Frenchmen; Regis Laguesse and Christophe Larrouilh. Around this time the club played at their Nong Chok Stadium, 5km northwest of Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

Links with Arsenal FC were also developed with their famous traditional shirts adopted for the first team.

An image of Nong Chock Stadium, taken from the internet


In 2010 the club moved its home games to the Thephasadin Stadium in central Bangkok at the same time they appointed Peter Butler, the former West Ham and Southend United midfielder. 

For a look at Thephasadin Stadium, a previous home of Tero, please click here.

No honours arrived despite a few runners-up places, so in 2011, Payong Khunnaen was made head coach. At the same time, Yorkshireman Andrew Ord was running the junior second string. 


Following a takeover of RBAC Mittraphap FC based at Rattana Bundit University, that club became known as RBAC BEC Tero Sasana or R-BEC for short. This side fielded young up-and-coming players for the first team. Click here to read about R-BAC 

Ord had done a good job, while Khunnaen was judged to have underachieved, so they swapped positions for the start of the 2012 season. During the 2012 season, Khunnaen was replaced by Sven-Göran Eriksson who led the team to a third-place finish. He departed at the end of the campaign.


Tero moved out of Thephasadin Stadium at the end of the 2013 season, instead taking up residence at 72-years Anniversary Stadium in Minburi in the east of Bangkok, as new coach Stephane Demol took over the team.

The 2015 season kicked off with the Portuguese, Manuel Cajuda as head coach at Tero before Božidar Bandović tried his best to get something out of the team as the side struggled and eventually finished in the final relegation spot.


However, owing to the financial situation at Saraburi who ultimately folded despite finishing in a safe position, Tero were reprieved. Results were disappointing at the start of the 2016 campaign, which led to the dismissal of Bandović, with Surapong Kongthep filling in until the end of the season.

Uthai Boonmoh took over as head coach but only lasted until June 2017, when he was replaced by former Manchester United youth player Mike Mulvey. The goals of Michaël N'dri saw Tero finish in fourteenth position.

Scott Cooper arrived from Ubon UMT United as the new head coach for the 2018 season, with a wealth of experience of coaching in Thailand. Cooper departed soon into the new season to be replaced by Totchtawan Sripan.


He failed to save the club from relegation as five sides went down at the end of the season despite more goals from N'dri and the positive contributions of the Myanmar international Aung Thu. 

Former Thai international midfielder Rangsan Viwatchaichok took over as head coach in September 2018 to look to restore Tero's top-flight status. He took the side straight back up in the runners-up position in 2019 with Greg Houla leading the scoring.

Eleventh place sealed consolidation in 2020-21 with Dragan Bošković putting away the chances before the same position was achieved in 2021-22. This time the top scorers award was shared by Janepob Phokhi and Evandro Paulista. Seventh place was achieved the following season as Tero continued to punch above their weight.

Jeong Woo-geun put away the goals while Isaac Honny led the side from the back. Coach Rangsan was lured away to Port FC in November 2023 to be replaced by Tan Cheng Hoe whose side failed to avoid relegation a few months later. Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul was appointed as head coach in June 2024.

Police Tero FC will play in Thai League 2 in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Wednesday 1st April 2015

For a look at a visit to Police United, before the merger, please click here.

as BEC Tero Sasana at 72nd Anniversary Stadium, Minburi

BEC Tero Sasana 1 Bangkok Glass 1 (Sunday 1st November 2015) Thai Premier League (att: 4,066)


My holiday was coming to a close with just two days remaining. I’d had a brilliant time, but I still was eager for more. I had a great chance to tick off a difficult ground to get to, and I wasn’t going to miss the chance.


After a nice relaxing morning, I waited to take a bus out to Fashion Island to meet Steve Walker, my good pal in Bangkok, from a stop on Sukhumvit near Soi Cowboy. Many buses came past, but not the 501.

In later years I would also come to realise that it is an irregular service on a Sunday, but fortunately, I also found other alternative routes.


It was time to use my ingenuity and local knowledge. I walked the mile or so up Soi 23, through Prasanmit University to the pier on the Saen Saep Boat Service up the main canal of the city. My boarding onto the boat got a few looks from the locals, but I was on. The conductor came round and gave me my 16 Baht (32p) ticket.

Steve and I had previously used this service from Bangkapi to the Mahattai stop to go to a Thailand Under 21 match at Rajamangala Stadium. This ride was much longer and most enjoyable. It’s a relaxing, cheap way to beat the traffic while seeing some interesting sights.


Bangkapi Mall was as busy as ever. I walked through the shops and over the bridge in readiness to take a bus when Steve rang. He was already at Fashion, so I jumped in a cab for the rest of the way.

We enjoyed a coffee and a bit of shopping before heading to his house in Minburi to watch some TV and listen to music. Sean and Tracey arrived as they were staying with Steve and Fah before moving into their nearby new home. After a nap, it was time to head to the game.


We walked through the village to Sam Wa. My pals told me that there wasn’t much in the way of food at the stadium, so I topped up at the 7/11. The taxi driver knew the way to the 72nd Anniversary Stadium, which included going up the main Suwinthanong Road and doing a U-turn to reach Khum Klao Road. The driver dropped us at the back of the Main Stand.

From the outside, the white walls of the stand gave a very good first impression. The two club mascots were greeting fans. The junior Tero fans were giving the Glass rabbit some real stick and he couldn’t get away.


Stands were giving out and advertising sponsors' products and there was food everywhere. Much to the amusement of my friends! We wandered around the stand to the far side, giving me some great views of the two large stands through the fence.

Admission was 100 Baht with a free programme. More catering stands just before the entrance furnished fans. The popular choice seemed to be the beer that came in a club bucket. I stuck to a Coke. The facilities inside were the norm for a Thai stadium; they were pretty Spartan.


We found a seat around two-thirds up and level with the penalty area to take in the view. The Main Stand opposite us had a roof like a racing car spoiler over the central section and red seats. 

Our large open bank was made up of the usual wide and steep steps, which were perfect for sitting on. The Glass away supporters were further down the touchline. Neither end had any spectator accommodation. The pitch was surrounded by a running track.


The teams came out to a good ovation. Before kick off the Tero players came across to their massed support. I had been told in advance to wait for the club song. 

The fans sang a dirge that lasted far too long to the tune of ‘I am Sailing’. I suppose it could have been worse if Rod Stewart had turned up to sing it, but each to their own.


The home side was struggling towards the wrong end of the table and really needed something from the game. Glass were placed comfortably in fourth place but without a chance of lifting the title.

Tero’s fans certainly knew how to get behind their side, but they were silenced after just six minutes when BG’s Japanese forward Goshi Okubo finished well. 


Glass’s number 11, the Spaniard Toti was running things with his skill and clever passing. Fodé Diakité was doing his best to stem the flow at the back for Tero.

BEC were in the game but didn’t really look like scoring as the game reached the interval. Some young females a few rows down from us were giving the referee and opposing players plenty of abuse. Steve recognised the swearing!


Manuel Cajuda, the Tero manager obviously had words with his team at the break. They came out brighter and within five minutes they were level, thanks to a strike from the edge of the box from Rangsan Viwatchaichock. The place went berserk.

Glass looked dangerous on the break, but it was Tero who looked the most likely to grab a winner. They pressed on until the end, but it was not to come. A draw was probably the right result.


Before we went the home fans gave an encore of the dirge to their team who stood respectfully, and quite probably bored stiff. Both teams as customary applauded their opposing set of supporters.

It was now time to try and get back to Minburi. The massed crowds wandered round to the narrow long street that led up to Khum Klao Road. A small van took fans back to Minburi, but it was already packed. There was no sign of any taxis.


We started to walk up the main road when an open-back van with a couple of Tero fans sitting in the back stopped for us. All four of us jumped in the back with the tipsy fans. We held on tight over the speed bumps. It was an interesting way to leave a match. We jumped out at the junction with Suwinthanong Road.

Before too long we managed to hail down a cab. The driver was a bit grumpy about taking four of us, but on he went. My pals dropped me off in Minburi, on the main Sihaburanukit Road.


I was in two minds whether to go for a beer at my favourite local bar or head back into town. I thought about taking a bus straight to the end of the road where I was staying, but in the end I plumped for a cab ride straight down to Asoke to have a relaxing final drink of the evening and fish and chips on the way home.

It seemed a perfect way to end a long day, and I needed some energy for the boy’s day out in town on the final day of my holiday!


Click here to see my YouTube video from the match.

as Police Tero at Boonyachinda Stadium

Police Tero 0 Nakhon Ratchasima 1 (Sunday 16th January 2022) Thai League 1 (att: 779)

I had moved full-time to Minburi a couple of months earlier and the top two levels of Thai football had resumed after the mid-season break. I was determined to start clocking up some new venues where I hadn’t previously watched matches.

My knowledge of the Bangkok bus system was also coming on. I knew that the number 26 would take me somewhere within walking distance of Boonyachinda Stadium after alighting at Bang Bua BTS station on the light green line.

 

The walk took me through local areas full of smiling faces and vibrancy with Google Maps my buddy. The last ten minutes were saved as a Tero fan told me to get on the back of his motorbike.

While not a fan of such transport, I liked his friendliness and I’m always eager not to turn down such acts. Beers were enjoyed outside with new friends. A Scarborough couple who I know well, Tracey and Sean Newby support the home side.

Indeed, Sean and I travelled back from an away game with some of them from Nakhon Ratchasima in 2018 and on this occasion, it was the ease of social media that put us all in touch for a sociable gargle.

It was an easy decision to go in the home open section as I knew this was where the more vociferous fans would be. Indeed, there were a group of farang who stood at the front in the middle shouting non-stop. Admission was 100 Baht. 

My initial thoughts were that they were Eastern European and perhaps friends with one of the imported players, such was their strange shouting. The following week I found out that they were from the east of Scotland when I encountered them at Samut Prakan City.

The match itself proved to be a tight affair with Tero having plenty of attacks but found themselves up against the excellent English Swatcat defender Charlie Clough. The game would be settled by a penalty three minutes into first-half stoppage time. 

The ball was going away from goals near the edge of the box when a home defender made a daft and needless challenge. Ghanian forward Kwame Karikari stepped up to beat keeper Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool from the spot.

Tero overseas Brazilian striker Evandro Paulista led the line well, but he and his team could not force an equaliser after the break in what had been a decent enough watch for a neutral. I enjoyed the experience and wished Tero well. They were a good bunch.

On my walk back, another fan offered me a ride on a motorbike, but I quickly got off. I just didn’t feel safe enough. Instead, I enjoyed the stroll through the sort of area I had moved to Bangkok to explore before catching a bus home.

Police Tero 2 Port FC 1 (Wednesday 4th May 2022) Thai League 1 (att: 1,217)

Andrew Charles, an old friend from the cricket was in town and eager to take in a Port game. Ideally, it would have been a home match, but this was better than nothing as it was the final match of the season and as the venue had an emotional pull as he related to me and my pal Steve who joined us.

Andrew is from New South Wales and set up rugby league in Thailand a decade or so earlier, with the nation playing its first full international at Boonyachinda Stadium. We were told a staggering story about how his excellent operation was usurped for funding by a rogue outfit and he moved on.

We met on Soi Nana and went on to have drinks along Sukhumvit Road as our friend explained that he was now the head coach of Chile rugby league and how they had a chance of qualification for the World Cup.

It was a grand old afternoon when time suddenly caught up on us. Eventually, a taxi was sourced from outside the Speakeasy bar on Soi 15. It would be touch and go whether we made it. Fortunately, a mixture of a good driver and former knowledge plonked us outside the away end as we heard the final strains of the King's Anthem. 

While I love my Thai football experiences, I thought 200 Baht was extreme in the corner away section, exactly double the price of the home fans. It was more or less the same policy at every top-flight stadium.

As usual, the Port fans travelled in decent numbers for a 6pm kick-off, even though the team had been on a shocking run of form since the turn of the year, funnily enough since I had arrived, a point made by some friends! I guess the 3-0 home win a few days earlier against Nongbua had raised spirits. 

Port had a poor record away to Tero and it would continue in a game that saw little in it between the sides, a bit like an old Woodhead’s meat pie as I said at the time, from my youth back in Scarborough. 

The hosts took the lead shortly before the half-hour mark through Teeratep Winothai and remained in front until the seventy-sixth minute. Sergio Saurez got on the end of a set-piece move to level things up.

It was muted that it might have been his last game for the club with fellow Spaniard David Rochela. Saurez had become frustrated throughout the campaign, not least I sensed with having the hopeless Nelson Bonella up front, an import so bad he didn’t even make the bench for the last few games.

I hoped Saurez would stay in a rejuvenated side the following season. Rochela was one of my favourites but I thought his legs had gone and would probably have released him, despite his length of service and previous quality and experience.

 

Sure enough, it would be the defence who let Port down when with two minutes of normal time remaining Evandro Paulista netted the winner. No problem. We had a good night. Andrew loved the fan's experience, especially hearing the Port female screamer at close quarters. What a voice that lady has, while a video of the Port fans at the game can be seen here.

Our walk back wasn’t exactly along the same route as my previous visit, but it was fascinating all the same. We ended up down little alleys and finally along the side of the Khlong as friendly locals said hello.

 

We left Andrew to catch the BTS back into the city, while we headed home to Minburi by bus. That was the end of Thai League 1 for the 2021-22 season.

Police Tero v Port FC (Sunday 4th September 2022) Thai League 1. (att: c3,000) Match abandoned at 1-0 after 39 minutes. 

Gary Griffiths, a friend from Scarborough who was now living in Buriram was in town for a weekend of football and socialising. We had already been to the afternoon League Cup game between Siam FC and AUU Inter Bangkok at the 72nd Anniversary Stadium in Minburi, the old home of Tero Sasana.

We picked Steve up near my condo and continued to arrive and park at Boonyachinda Stadium with time for a beer outside. I had come up with what I thought was a sensible plan as we were still in the rainy season. 

I didn’t wear any Port colours and suggested we go in the home seated stand under cover for 120 Baht. I received no arguments! We got a good view in what we thought an excellent attendance as the match kicked off in good conditions.

Port looked a good side, with Negueba pulling the strings in midfield and wing-back Thitathorn Aksornsri constantly foraging down the left wing in front of us. Visiting keeper Worawut Srisupha made a good save from a long shot at the other end.

A long low Port effort came back off the post before the referee was advised to go to the TV monitors having turned down what looked like a nailed-on penalty for the visitors. Incredibly he stuck with his original decision to the amazement of Lions players and fans alike.

Inevitably enough after Port domination the home side took the lead when Jeong Woo-geun pounced on a Srisupha following a low shot to fire home the rebound on the half-hour mark. This was after a VAR check for offside.

Yodsak Chaowana of Tero committed a high challenge which caught Negueba in the head. The referee initially showed a yellow card but was advised to head to the screen once again. He changed his decision to red, as the hosts were reduced to ten men.

At this point, the official led the teams from the field as the rain began. It got heavier and heavier and began coming in horizontally through the gap in the back of the stand. Within a few minutes, puddles were forming on the pitch and before much longer it was submerged.

It was pretty obvious that the game would be abandoned so we decided to bite the bullet and make a run for it. It was not straightforward as the road outside was not lit very well and it was underwater.

Steve was struggling with water in his glasses. I was in the water near my knees after failing to allow for a drop into the car park. I eventually grabbed my mate and assisted as we got back to Gary’s thankfully large motor. 

Our driver had a tough task negotiating some flooded roads back to Minburi, with some incredible driving from others to watch out for. It was a relief when we were greeted at my local by owner Teaw offering us umbrellas. It had been a proper experience.

The match was re-arranged for the last Wednesday of the month from where the game ended, so Tero would be 1-0 up but playing with ten men.

Police Tero 2 Nongbua Pitchaya 1 (Friday 28th October 2022) Thai League 1 (att: 984) 

A far less damp return was not too long in the offing, but only after Tero played a couple of home games up the road at the Thunderdome while the pitch recovered, including what ended in a 2-2 draw in the completed draw with Port.

The game with Nongbua was a special occasion, as I was to be joined by two German groundhopping friends, Thorsten, and Maren, who were on a two-week break and attending their first-ever Thai game. 

We met at Bang Bua BTS station and went on an interesting walk to Boonyachinda Stadium, without finding anywhere obviously selling alcohol. Instead, we continued to the arena for libation and enjoyed some freebie gifts and soft drinks from sponsors setting up outside.

Our drinks continued behind the main stand where I again guided guests. Once inside we grabbed excellent seats for what was a decent enough encounter. The hosts took the lead in twenty-seven minutes in a slightly scruffy fashion.

 

A cross was overhit, and then misfired low into the box from the other side by Ekkachai Sumrei to fortunately find Marc Landry Babo. The Ivory Coast forward made no mistake controlling and firing a low shot past keeper Kittikun Jamsuwan.

Islam Batran was denied for the visitors when a fizzing effort from the edge of the box was tipped over by Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool in the home net. Chanukun Karin came close to doubling Tero’s lead in the last action before halftime. 

A deflected Nongbua shot went narrowly wide once play resumed before they were rewarded when a powerful run with a trice of fortune along its way by Barros Tardeli with a return touch from Batran saw the Brazilian make it 1-1.

Two minutes later, with eighteen left on the clock, Tero regained the lead when a corner fell at the feet of skipper Issac Honey who made no mistake from seven yards. Lesley Ablorh went close to extending the lead when firing just over the bar.

 

I wasn’t exactly how Police Tero achieved it, but they were pulling off some excellent results. They certainly seemed difficult opponents and made the most of what they had, even if it isn’t always completely pretty to watch. Fair play to them.

At full time we went out to the main Vibhabadi Rangsit road where my friends jumped in a taxi back to their hotel in the city. I faffed about when I should have followed suit instead of crossing the roads and waiting ages for one back to Minburi to meet my friends in my local bar.

 


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