TOT happy to be relegated
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Thai Premier League basement club TOT SC have agreed to become the only team relegated to League One on the condition that the TPL board resigns in the wake of its controversial decision to expand the country’s top-flight league to 20 teams next season.
On Wednesday, the TPL board opted for a league expansion in order to avert a legal threat from BEC Tero Sasana, who filed a lawsuit after the TPL ruled their earlier 1-0 loss to Bangkok United would stand despite the latter fielding an ineligible player.
The league expansion also meant BEC Tero, who finished in the relegation places, would stay in the top-flight division next term. That left Port FC and TOT SC, the bottom two clubs, facing an anxious wait to learn which would be the lone team to go down.
TOT president Jarun Lermdamri stated yesterday that the club would lodge the lawsuit against TPL next week, adding that it vehemently opposed the idea of allowing BEC Tero to become the only team in the relegation places to avoid the drop.
“The rules clearly state that three teams must go down. To allow BEC Tero to escape relegation and leaving either Port FC or TOT SC to get the chop is obviously not right.
“And to say that we will be the only ones to suffer the drop because we have fewer points than Port FC is also not right. The bottom line is, not who got more points. It’s like an exam where they got 49 points and we scored only 30. Both of us failed to pass the test, so we will not accept it [relegation].
Jarun added sarcastically that his club would accept being the only team to go down if the TPL board resigned en masse.
“We don’t have a problem with having 18 or 20 teams. But they need to inform us beforehand – not after we have finished the competition. The only thing we will accept now is either all three teams go down or all three go into a playoff.
“We won’t accept a single playoff against Port FC. We will accept relegation if they [the TPL board] resign, since we’re already prepared for life in the secondtier.”
