A  colourful ex-police chief backed by the billionaire Thai owners of Leicester City FC yesterday announced his candidacy to lead the kingdom’s scandal-mired football association after the incumbent was suspended by FIFA.
Somyot Poompanmoung, whose last act as commander was to oversee the probe into the a deadly bomb attack on Bangkok, said he would raise the standard of the game if elected president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT).   
The incumbent Worawi Makudi, a FIFA executive committee member for 18 years until May, is serving a 90-day suspension by the sport’s ruling body linked to a breach of its ethical code.
Worawi, a longtime ally of the shamed
suspended FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, has survived repeated scandals during his time at the helm of the FAT, winning grudging respect for his tenacity as well as many enemies within the Thai game.
But he is under intense pressure from FIFA, which has also removed the FAT executive committee and ordered a fresh election in the new year while it investigates allegations of document forgery against him.
Worawi has denied all wrongdoing.
At the Bangkok launch of his bid, Somyot sported a Leicester City shirt emblazoned with the sponsor’s name “King Power”—a Thai duty free shopping giant founded by mega-rich Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha who is chairman of the high-flying English Premier League club.
“I want to serve the country by creating a better reputation for Thai football,” Somyot said at the Bangkok press launch of his FAT bid. “Fellow Thais will be happy if I can make (Thai) football develop and step into the world arena,” he added.
“My slogan is ‘fair’... meaning being fair in managing the association, fair in spending money and fair in refereeing”, explained Somyot, nodding to “doubts” about the impartiality of officials in the Thai game.
Somyot, who declared his assets as police chief at more than $11.5 million including from advising companies and property
holdings, was selected by the Thai junta to lead the police force in the aftermath of their 2014 coup. He said his priority was to smash corruption within the force but critics said he was little more than a patsy for a military that has clipped the wings of the police since seizing power.
He famously gave reward money to his own police officers after they made their first arrest of a Bangkok bomb suspect, despite the fact that investigators admit that most of the plotters, including any masterminds, have yet to be caught.  
The diminutive but outspoken Somyot retired from his post in October when he reached 60.
But he retains close links with those on the force, including his brother, who is head of police in the seaside resort town of Pattaya.  
Srivaddhanaprabha’s Leicester are riding high in the Premier League in second place after the record-breaking goal-scoring exploits of striker Jamie Vardy.