One issue is dominating the back - and front pages - of football-crazy Thailand.

Everyone has an opinion on the future of manager Peter Withe, who is holed up in his Bangkok apartment unsure of whether he is coming and going.

The story so far is this: Withe, who won championship medals with Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa and scored the winning goal in the 1982 European Cup Final for Villa, has been Thailand boss for the past five seasons.

The public love him after Thailand enjoyed unprecedented success under his reign, twice becoming champions of south-east Asia (The Tiger Cup) and reaching the latter stages of World Cup qualifying.

However, a recent 4-1 defeat in Olympic qualifying to the United Arab Emirates - ironically managed by another Englishman Roy Hodgson - led to Thai newspapers reporting Withe had been sacked two months before his contract runs out.

The only thing is nobody has told Peter.

"I am in limbo," admits the 52-year-old Liverpudlian. "I heard this stuff about me leaving but the head of the football association is in America for the women's World Cup and I haven't been able to get hold of him to find out what is going on."

With so many jobs available in England at the moment, it is in Withe's interest to sort things out as quickly as possible.

Significantly, one of the vacancies is with Second Division Tranmere in Birkenhead, just down the road from where Withe grew up.

"Officially I am still the national head coach of Thailand. You can't make predictions in football about what happens next but if I move on, it could be anywhere. It might be England, it might not - you go where the work is. But until my situation in Thailand is resolved, I can't decide what to do next. It is frustrating."

Whatever the future holds, Withe has had an incredible five years in the Far East. As a player, he lived in South Africa, Zambia and the United States. But Thailand has been a vastly different experience again.

"My wife Cathy and I have the personalities to adapt to different cultures. It's vital," he says.

"I don't think we realised the fanaticism of the fans in Thailand. I would say the average person knows more about the Premiership than they would do in England.

"There are 65 million people and nearly all of them will know the names of all the Arsenal or Manchester United players.

"The Thai people are shy and reserved by nature but if I go out they will pluck up the courage to ask for autographs or have their picture taken with you. It is very flattering."

The national team was a backwater even by Asian standards until Withe arrived.

Now they are the dominant side in their region and have twice reached the Asian Cup semi-finals, famously beating South Korea 2-1 on one occasion.

"A lot of countries in Asia are ploughing serious money into their football. Countries like Japan, Korea, Iran and the Middle East are affluent nations," he says.

"We have no money - my players will make about £500 a month playing football so they need to do other jobs as well. The better ones go to Vietnam or Singapore.

"The people think we should play like Brazil because they are the World Cup winners. But you have to adapt your style to the players you have. I don't really play the English game either because it wouldn't work with the players we have."

Travel has been a big feature of Withe's life. "We even went to Iraq in 2001 a little while before the events of September 11," he says.

"People were being advised to stay away from Iraq at the time but our association said our safety had been guaranteed so we went. I didn't go round like a tourist pointing my camera at everything! But we did have some photos taken, we all put on Muslim dress for one picture - I was called the Sheikh after that!

"It's been an interesting time going to places that wouldn't normally be on your holiday list."

When Withe finally gets hold of the Thai Football Association chief Worawi Makudi, the future will begin to get a little clearer.

Until then - Withe will stay in Bangkok, and continue dreaming of Birkenhead.

Peter Withe was talking to Joe Bernstein

Peter Withe 

Nationality: English
Place of Birth: Liverpool, England
Date of Birth: 30 August 1951 
Weight: 12 00
Height: 6' 3'' 
Position: Striker

 

Year

Club

Apps.

Goals

1970-72

Southport

2

0

1972-73

Barrow

1

0

1973/74

Wolverhampton W

3

1

1974/75

Wolverhampton W

14

2

1975/76

Birmingham City

32

9

1976/77

Birmingham City

3

0

1976/77

Nottingham Forest

34

16

1977/78

Nottingham Forest

40

12

1978/79

Nottingham Forest

1

0

1978/79

Newcastle United

39

14

1979/80

Newcastle United

37

11

1980/81

Aston Villa

36

20

1981/82

Aston Villa

35

10

1982/83

Aston Villa

35

16

1983/84

Aston Villa

36

16

1984/85

Aston Villa

40

12

1985/86

Sheffield United

30

11

1986/87

Sheffield United

35

5

1987/88

Sheffield United

9

2

1987/88

Birmingham City

8

2

1988/89

Huddersfield Town

26

0

1989/90

Huddersfield Town

12

1


Italics indicate loan spell

Statistics compiled by James Wright