As the Bangkok and region division prepares to kick off next week after the mid-season break, Nonthaburi have released a list of "ins and outs" as "The Crows" bid to maintain their position at the very top of D2 BKK.
Outgoing players include Jorrin John, the highly-talented but temperamental player who clearly (and forgivably) looked like he was wondering what the heck he was doing in Division 2 much of the time. The former Leicester player has joined Nakhon Nayok and we will miss his link-up play with Tomi, which tore defences apart. Other departees include Patong (no.28) and Watcharit (no.40).
The ten (yes, ten) incoming players include a foreigner named Ebisawa alongside other names, all of which are new to me, as they come from the Muangthong United youth, reserve and scouting setups. Now, there is no mention of Tomi on the list but next to Ebisawa (in Thai) is a message saying "2nd foreigner". The meaning of that is not clear to me as even with JJ leaving, we have more than 2 foreigners already and here is only one new foreigner. In any case, Tomi staying or leaving could decide what division we are in next season.
Updates on new players and remaining players to come soon.
Whoever on the Nonthaburi FC side struck the deal with MTU to act as a nursery club is responsible for a huge turnaround at the club.
Toni lines up a volley
It’s not just on-pitch performances that have changed. The crowd at this game was the largest I’ve seen and though the vast majority were in Eka colours, there were Phuket FC and plenty of Muangthong shirts, too. The substitutes wore MTU training tops and the whole set-up has a slightly larger feel to it.
But it’s the pitch that counts and without taking any credit away from a good team performance, there’s no doubt which players made the difference today. SP Utd actually made the brighter start and crafted several good chances but once the Nonthaburi attacking line got started, they ran the show. Jorrin John made a powerful run to set up Alassane for the first goal, Tomi latched on to a superb through ball for the second and Eka’s third goal came again from Alassane after a great run and cross from Nathagun (another MTU youth player) and a lovely little touch from Toni.
Jorrin John - Not easy to shake off the ball
In the second half the side sat back a little though even when SP Utd had chances, they took them very poorly. Towards the end of the game there were incidents that have been edited out in the video below, there were two scuffles in injury time which then sparked one of the most hilarious ‘rage off’ competitions between two coaches I’ve ever seen. Both sets of fans behaved impeccably throughout.
This is the first season ever that Eka have looked likely to score more than once in a game. The distribution and intelligence in the play of the squad has also improved and it would be wrong to give sole credit to the MTU imports of Toni, Alassane and John, but they are certainly the catalyst.
Samut Parakan overcame us with ease last season and were level with us before this game. This time they were dispatched with relative ease in a ten minute spell of the best attacking football I’ve seen at RL level. At the start of the season I said that Nonthaburi fans would be happy just to have a team, and anything else would be a bonus. This is one heck of a bonus. Photo credits: Nhong Tim
If you're an Eka fan, get out and buy your lottery ticket. The boys managed to pull off the rarest of feats - a victory in a cup game - in midweek with a 5-3 win over non league Korat FC, The game did not go to penalties so it is as the scoreline suggests, a goal-fest. It appears that for the first time ever Eka will be a high scoring team this season, though we still look shaky at the back. Overall though, it's 3 wins in a row, equal to our total number of victories in all competitions last season and we've barely started.
But that's not the big news.
The fan club has confirmed the signing (probably a loan, but not confirmed) of Englishman Jorrin John from Muangthong United. Jorrin was a trialist at Leicester City, a large club playing in England's second tier, just three years ago where fans expected big things of him. With Leicester's Thai ownership, he took the unusual step of being loaned from England to Thailand. He was subsequently released by Leicester but impressed Muangthong enough to win a contract there. He was loaned out to Suphanburi last year and due to go on loan to TTM this year but the deal fell through. As such, he has ended up with Eka.
What this amounts to is an English player with experience of football at a far, far higher level and due to play at a higher league club ending up with us. It could be very interesting.
Just think, a few months back we weren't even sure if we had a club to support any more.
Eka play Samut Prakan United at home this Saturday. KO 4pm.
Leicester Fans on John in 2008 (Note the mention of threatening to stab a team mate! Hopefully he's mellowed with age. His more recent interviews would suggest so.)
