The Thai Premier League (TPL) executive board's decision to expand the national soccer top flight from 18 to 20 teams has turned into a massive controversy as relegated TOT are the latest team to threaten legal action against them.
TOT chairman Charan Remdumrit, centre, during yesterday's press conference.
TOT were the bottom side at the end of last season and were relegated along with Port (17th) and BEC Tero Sasana (16th).
The TPL board on Wednesday decided to increase the number of teams in the league to 20 with BEC Tero remaining in the top flight as the 16th-ranked club.
The other four teams in the new format will be three from League One and either Port or TOT who may meet in a play-off.
TOT chairman Charan Remdumrit told a press conference yesterday that he would accept relegation only if all three clubs originally demoted go down together.
The TPL's move has courted controversy from the start with giants Buriram United and Chonburi both promptly resigning from the board and threatening legal action against the TPL.
The decision was aimed at avoiding later problems cropping up from a case filed by BEC Tero Sasana with the Administrative Court in their attempt to reverse a TPL ruling.
BEC Tero argue that they should get three points awarded to them following a controversial defeat.
BEC lost 1-0 to Bangkok United but the Fire Dragons claimed their opponents used more than the permitted number of foreign players.
If BEC Tero win the case, their ranking will improve and Saraburi would have to face the drop.
With a decision nowhere in sight, the TPL decided to allow both Saraburi and BEC Tero keep their places in the top league by increasing the number of teams for the 2016 season, which gets underway next month.
On Thursday, Nualphan Lamsam, chairperson of Port, criticised the plan for a play-off between her team and TOT and branded it as “unfair”.
She claimed: “I think this is unfair to Port as we finished 17th last season and should have the right to play in the TPL like BEC Tero, ahead of TOT.”
At yesterday’s press conference, Charan said: “We will go to the Administrative Court on Monday, [Jan] 11 to sue the TPL. The [league] regulations state that three teams must be relegated.
“So allowing BEC Tero Sasana to retain their place in the TPL and let either TOT or Port be relegated is completely unfair.
“To assume that we should be the only team to be relegated because we have lesser points than Port is also incorrect because the main objective of the league is not to earn points only. We all finished among bottom three, so we all failed.”
Charan added: “We don’t have any problem if there are 18 or 20 teams in the TPL, but the composition of the league should have been decided and conveyed earlier and not after the end of the season.
“Right now, we are of the opinion that all three teams must be relegated together or if there have to be play-offs, this should involve TOT, Port and BEC Tero with a permission to use newly-signed players.
“However, if they wish to have a play-off between TOT and Port, it is not acceptable to us.
“If they want to see us play in League One [second tier], the entire TPL board should resign and we will accept the relegation.”
TOT lawyer Amnaj Sakchatchawan said: “At first, we will file a case to get a temporary injunction from the court. Then we will file a detailed lawsuit, details of which have to be kept confidential for the time being.”
Team director Chatchawan Paosawad expressed confidence that TOT will win the case because the regulations clearly state that three teams must be relegated.