UHT Vana Nava Hua Hin City FC 2015

[Big Boy]

So that would fit nicely with my assumption as the season as I call it ends on 26 Sept. If we qualify, we should be there for our Champions League matches. If we don't qualify, the pitch will be able to grow quite happily until February.

[Sabai Sabai]

Yes, according to that your assumption would be correct if we DON'T qualify for the CL.

Let's hope your assumption is wrong!

[Sabai Sabai]

Just noticed another article confirming what BB already said about Shota being loaned to Kalasin, Bik Dam says it's because of the foreign player quota and goes on to list all the foreign players we have at the club, he includes Choi in the list. So I guess he must be here to stay by the sounds of that.

[Geordie Dancer]

Another day, another player. I am beginning to lose track of all the new arrivals. Todays arrival is another first division signing from Krabi FC. Again no name or squad number for this guy but yesterdays arrival wore the number 40 shirt today.
So five new players have arrived in the last week. Not sure if that's the end of it or maybe more to come. Other than Choi, the Korean No. 30, who played against Chamchuri in the friendly last week I had only seen the others train until today. Today the squad played a full practice game. Here are my first impressions and what little I know about each of the players.

Choi (Korean) No. 30
Has played in Thailand before, two years ago, not sure which team(s) for. For the last two years he has been serving in the Korean army. This possibly explains his lack lustre performance last week against Chamchuri, he is possibly a bit rusty and I don't know how football fit he is. Played a lot better today in central midfield and seems to be improving as the days go by.

No. 34. Signed from 1st division club Ang Thong. Another midfield player. Looks very comfortable on the ball and physically very strong. Not the quickest player I have seen but built like a brick sh*thouse.

No. 39. A centre forward who has come from Krabi FC. Looked really good today. He is quick and physically strong on the ball, likes to take people on and can certainly finish. Unlike many strikers who tend to be lazy when they don't have the ball, he worked very hard to win the ball back and also drifted into wide positions and midfield to create chances. Looks like a real asset.

No. 40. Arrived yesterday from Changmai FC. A right back who appears to be strong, quick and skillful.

? Todays arrival. Another striker signed from Krabi FC. Again he looked good today. Physically even stronger than No. 39. He looks a goal scorer. He has the typical controlled strikers greed, isn't afraid to shoot.

I have been saying for quite a while I thought we were thin on the ground up front and needed at least two new strikers. That has been addressed now and they both look good players. I feel as though the Hua Hin jigsaw is almost complete. There may yet be other additions but as things stand I think we have very strong and balanced squad now.

Roll on Saturday. Lets all get behind the team at Samut Sakhon. I hope we have a big following at the match this weekend. Tell you friends to go, fill your cars, use the clubs transport. It will be a great day out. Howay Hua Hin!

[Sabai Sabai]

Obviously good news that we're strengthening the squad even further, my only concern is how long it will take for the team to settle, especially given our 2 biggest games of the season are to be played in the next few weeks.

GD, do you think any of these guys just mentioned may feature on Saturday or will that come too soon for them? I personally don't think it would be a great idea to throw them in at the deep end like that.

With regards Choi, if he's been in the army for the last couple of years then he is going to be extremely rusty I'd have thought, may take a while for him to get back up to speed. Must clearly be well thought of though, given the quota for foreign players.

[Big Boy]

This all sounds very positive - good news

One small query, you told us last week that Choi was No.20. I know they have this stupid system of many wearing different numbers on their training kits, which is what he wore when I saw him play. Just to keep my crib sheet correct, is he definitely No.30 please?

[Sabai Sabai]

After thinking about what I just said about Choi and how he must be well thought of, and GD saying he'd previously played in Thailand, it got me curious.

I done a little digging on his name in Thai and found 2 or 3 different stories on him(more actually but that's all I read).

Seems he's another one of the 'Phuket old boys' a story published in June 2011 reveals he ripped up his own contract in order to care for his sick wife in Bangkok, who had apparently developed some kind of mental health issue believed to have been caused by a miscarriage before travelling to Thailand. The club were sympathetic and waived any financial fee. The coach spoke very highly of him saying he was the pillar of the side and is gutted as he'll be a massive loss.

There's then another story from after that about him being conscripted to the army, whilst playing for Saraburi. Again the coach was talking about how he was the pillar of the side and would be really sad to see him go but it's outwith their control. Annoyingly there was no date published on the article but presumably it's from 2 years ago!

Certainly very very well thought of at these 2 clubs the way the articles were written and worded. Both clubs playing at a higher level than us and not just a squad player but a star player by the sounds of it!

Hopefully won't be long before he's firing on all cylinders again!

[Big Boy]

[Geordie Dancer]

Sorry BB and thanks for the correction. I said I was losing track of the new arrivals. You are right Choi is No. 20. While I'm on I spotted another error. No. 40 is a left back not right back. My heads spinning. Phew!!!

[Geordie Dancer]

my only concern is how long it will take for the team to settle, especially given our 2 biggest games of the season are to be played in the next few weeks.

GD, do you think any of these guys just mentioned may feature on Saturday or will that come too soon for them? I personally don't think it would be a great idea to throw them in at the deep end like that.

There does not seem to be any problem with new players settling in at the club and never has been, the club always seems to be very friendly and players appear to adapt very quickly. There certainly were not any visable problems today. I think the biggest problem for all players, not just the new ones, is getting used to how the coach wants them to play. Having said that the overall quality of todays game was very good but the coach was not there. I think he must have been with the Thailand team who were playing Reading in a friendly in Bangkok tonight. Communication wasn't an issue today as Andre, Lucas and Valery were missing, as they were yesterday. They are sorting out new visas. These three are probably the main three non fluent thai speakers so that may have an impact on the team performance when they return. We will see tomorrow.

As for the weekend it is very difficult to predict the starting 11 let alone the involvement of any of the latest crop of new players. My instinct says that most if not all will be on the bench. The good thing is No. 39, No. 40 and ? (todays arrival) all looked fully match fit. No. 39 or ? could start up front because of Anuchas' injury. Andre has been lacking the support of a fellow quality striker but it depends how well they hit it off, they have not even met each other yet.

On first impressions No. 40 looks an even better player than No. 33 Dusit Nongpatum, our current left back, who we recently acquired.

Choi probably needs time to get fitter and get used to playing again although he has come on leaps and bounds in the last week.

Finally No. 34. Don't think he will start as there is such competition for the midfield berths so it's not worth risking him yet but he is certainly someone I would want by my side if the game ever got rough. His thighs are bigger than mine. Long time since I've seen a player with what commonly used to be called footballers legs. These days players are generally built like racing snakes.

So thats my thoughts. I should get a better idea about Saturdays team tomorrow when the coach, Andre, Lucas and Valery should all be back.

[Sabai Sabai]

I think the biggest problem for all players, not just the new ones, is getting used to how the coach wants them to play.

Yeah exactly, the ones that have been here longer should be ok, could be more of a problem for the new arrivals.

I agree though about one of the forwards possibly being thrown in with Anucha being injured though, especially if they're match fit as you say.

Apparently both the strikers from Krabi have been signed on loan until the end of the season. Was just reading about it on Krabi FC's Facebook page. The coach down there reckons they'll be on fire in the 2nd division.

Wonder why Hua Hin haven't been posting info about the new signings? Can understand them not mentioning trialists who haven't actually signed but these 2 sound a done deal, confirmed by Krabi. Choi sounds a done deal given Bik Dam's comments and I wouldn't be surprised if the other 2 are as well!

[Geordie Dancer]

Not certain what the 2 month gap between completion and starting playing is but I'm assuming it will be for the pitch to be ready. I'm no expert but I'd have thought they could have had the pitch ready at the same time as the stadium itself is ready....

Is it a seasonal thing where they need to lay it in rainy season? Or just poor planning?!

Just a few comments about the new ground and pitch which may help explain the comments of the Mayor of Hua Hin. For a few years I worked as a sports groundsman in the UK during which time I did a number of courses to get qualifications in sports groundsmanship for basically looking after grass, (not the smoking variety).

Hua Hin FC are going to be laying a turf pitch. From whenever the turf is first laid, (and it's looking like it will be this week) it takes a minimum of about 3 month for it to establish itself and become stable. Whilst the benefits of laying turf over sowiing seed are that the grass and it's root system are already established and strong, the downside is that this is only true of the individual turf sod. Once laid the turf has to establish itself in its new environment and its root system must be given time to develope and grow into the new subsoil. If a newly laid turf pitch is not given this bedding in time the turf will be unstable because it is not rooted into the subsoil and the turfs will lift. So if the pitch is laid this week it would be October before it should be played on in line with the Mayors statement. I have been saying from the outset of the development that laying the pitch would have been one of the first things I would have done as this would have given it time to establish itself while the stands etc were built. In fairness to the club I think it was planned to lay the pitch earlier. I was told at least six weeks ago that the grass had not grown as quickly as was expected so the turf could not be cut. This was probably due to the lack of rain we have had this year. Had the turf been cut and laid on time the pitch would have been ready at the same time as the overall development was completed. So it's just what's called sods law, excuse the pun.

[Big Boy]

Wonder why Hua Hin haven't been posting info about the new signings? Can understand them not mentioning trialists who haven't actually signed but these 2 sound a done deal, confirmed by Krabi. Choi sounds a done deal given Bik Dam's comments and I wouldn't be surprised if the other 2 are as well!

There is a (Thai) fans page, where it has been mentioned. I'm busy for a couple of days, but I'll send you details by PM when I return.

[Big Boy]

Wonder why Hua Hin haven't been posting info about the new signings? Can understand them not mentioning trialists who haven't actually signed but these 2 sound a done deal, confirmed by Krabi. Choi sounds a done deal given Bik Dam's comments and I wouldn't be surprised if the other 2 are as well!

There is a (Thai) fans page, where it has been mentioned. I'm busy for a couple of days, but I'll send you details by PM when I return.

2 minutes before I depart. The page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/WE-Suppo ... 3369193551 (mainly Thai, but not a problem for you . Get on it, and ask for entry to the closed group after a couple of days.

[Sabai Sabai]

2 minutes before I depart. The page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/WE-Suppo ... 3369193551 (mainly Thai, but not a problem for you . Get on it, and ask for entry to the closed group after a couple of days.

Yeah, thanks, I've been a member of that group for some time, and the closed group since it was set up last night. I didn't actually see it mentioned there though? There is actually another group(even the title of the group is in Thai) but I've found that the majority of the time they're just sharing stories from the official page + sometimes Supersub, I normally make a point of checking the official page + Supersub from time to time.

Maybe someone has been reading this forum though, as I see today there has been an interview with the no.34 posted on the club's page. He mentions his previous clubs, including Thai Honda, Samut Prakan and, most recently as GD already stated, Angthong.

He says the new players have had the chance to train together over the last 3-4 days and are beginning to build up a good understanding of each other already, ahead of Saturday's massive game against the league leaders and urges fans of Hua Hin to get along and support them.

I have to confess I'm not familiar with the Thai phrase used to describe his position, it wasn't just midfielder, I'm familiar with that, but more specific..... I'm guessing it may mean something like defensive/holding midfielder.... Would that sound about right from what you've seen GD?

Edit: Actually I think it does just say midfielder, only spelt differently just to confuse me!