League monitor City situation

The Premier League will take guidance from the Home Office and Foreign Office before deciding whether to let Thaksin Shinawatra continue as owner of Manchester City.

The former Thailand Prime Minister arrived in London yesterday after refusing to answer fraud and corruption charges in his homeland.

Instead, he flew to the UK from Beijing, accompanied by his wife, Pojaman, who is on bail pending appeal after being sentenced to three years in prison for similar offences.

It leaves the Premier League in a difficult position.

And while chief executive Richard Scudamore would not be afraid to take action if required, he will wait to see if the Government step in first.

“As always, we will take advice from the Home Office and the Foreign Office. We are not experts in law in every country, so it is wise to speak with the people who are,” he said.

It is a matter Scudamore could have done without, although if he feels the Premier League’s ’fit and proper persons test’ needs to be used for the first time, he will.

“Of course, if we feel the rule has been breached, we will invoke it,” he said.

“We will not turn a blind eye to issues of a serious nature.

“It is quite a complex matter and can’t just make a judgement on the spot but clearly we have a club owner who has not yet been found guilty of any offence.

“However, it is an evolving situation and we will look at it.”

If the Premier League are in a tricky situation, for City’s long-suffering fans a nightmare is unfolding.

Quite apart from the rights and wrongs of Thaksin’s position, and public opinion is shifting appears to be running him, his plans for City are in tatters.

It would be no surprise if Mark Hughes considered his position given the riches he thought would be at his disposal will remain frozen by the Thai authorities.

It has already been suggested many of the deals done by Sven-Goran Eriksson last summer were done with a relatively small down payment, the same applying to transfers of Jo and Tal Ben Haim this summer.

Although Eriksson’s successor managed to halt Vedran Corluka’s proposed move to Tottenham at the weekend, his rebuilding plans have been badly affected ahead of next Sunday’s opening Premier League game at Aston Villa.

“Dr Thaksin will be making no statements in London while the judicial process remains active and he is not going to get involved in conversations about Manchester City,” confirmed a City source.

However, before his departure from China, Thaksin outlined his own version of the charges levelled against him, which he remains convinced are politically motivated.

“What has happened to me and my family and my close relations has resulted from efforts to get rid of me from politics,” he said.

“These are my political enemies. They don’t care about the rule of law, facts or internationally recognised due process.”

Thaksin has vowed to return to Thailand one day but it is difficult to see such a scenario arising in the near future.