Col Worawut Thongsri-ngam has taken over the reins of the under-fire Football Association of Thailand (FAT) in a caretaker capacity, the association's lawyer Narinpong Jinapak said yesterday.
Narinpong also reiterated yesterday that the "normalisation committee" appointed by the world governing body Fifa to replace the association's executive board was "only to supervise" the next election and it cannot "become involved in, or interfere with, the FAT's administration".
He added FAT secretary-general Col Worawut will now be overseeing the association's affairs.
Fifa, on Friday, decided to replace the entire FAT executive committee with a so-called "normalisation committee" only a few days after imposing a 90-day ban on its president Worawi Makudi for breaching Fifa's code of ethics.
A Fifa statement said: "The Fifa Emergency Committee has decided... to remove the executive committee of the Football Association of Thailand from office and to appoint a normalisation committee in its place."
Col Worawut said: "I have been appointed secretary-general of the association but have not come through the electoral process.
"As per rules, the mandate of the elected executive committee has expired so I will look after the day-to-day running of the association.
"In this regard, I will soon be appointing an advisory committee as well."
Col Worawut added: "I will not be interfering with the work of the panel appointed by Fifa because our jobs are different. Both sides must work to avoid any further action from Fifa."
The newly-appointed, six-member panel, which is headed by Adm Surawut Maharom, and whose tasks involve revising the FAT electoral code and staging a new election by Feb 15, was to have its first meeting today but it has now been postponed.
Thana Chaiprasit, deputy chairman of the "normalisation committee", told Bangkok Post yesterday that no time and date has been fixed yet for the first meeting of the panel.
He added: "We have to have a meeting within this week to work out an action plan. So far, we are not even sure of the scope of the committee.
"There exists a strong possibility that FAT's insistence on challenging Fifa's rulings can lead to the country being banned from all activities.
"Their [the FAT executive committee's] mandate has ended so someone would have to come in and run the association. However, this is something for the Sports Authority of Thailand [SAT] to look into."
SAT governor Sakol Wannapong has confirmed that the government sports-controlling arm was kept in the loop by Fifa and had been "consulted on the composition of the normalisation committee".
"The [Fifa] order used the word 'remove', so it is clear-cut," said Sakol in an attempt to quash arguments that the FAT executive committee still remained in power.
FAT was due to stage elections for the post of president and other executive committee members on Saturday but these were postponed upon the advice of Fifa officials who were in town to observe the administration of the poll.
Worawi, who is also appealing his 90-day suspension from all football-related activities, was due to compete against former national team manager Vanasthana (Thawatchai) Sajakul and regional police chief Pisan Jundilok in Saturday's election.
Narinpong added yesterday that a letter had been sent to Fifa seeking a list of charges that had led to the suspension of Worawi, but so far there has been no response from the world governing body.