Warong Thiuthas, one of the candidates for the office of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) president, on Wednesday announced his three-point manifesto, vowing to make widescale structural changes to the Thai football setup.
Warong, a former secretary-general of Thai League Co Ltd, told a press conference on Wednesday that there were many problems with the way football in Thailand had been managed in the past.
"I have three main points: restructuring; creating value; and improving standards," he said.
"There are many problems in the football industry right now as the management structure is not consistent with the present era, leading to a drop in the value of our product.
"The true value of Thai football has never been assessed properly.
"The standard of our referees is such that their decisions almost always raise question marks."
He added that one of the major contributing factors to the decline is the way the FAT board members are elected.
"They nominate representatives of member clubs as candidates to dominate everything, whereas we need experts in different fields to look after the things."
Warong said he plans to separate management of the association from the running of the national team affairs.
"The three leagues also need to operate separately from the FAT with full-time executives running the show and their performance evaluated on a regular basis," he added.
Warong told the media that he had been in touch with a number of private sectors backers who were ready to inject as much as 100 million baht into Thai League 2 and another 150 million baht into the Thai League 3 if the structural changes he had planned were implemented.
The FAT presidential election will take place on Feb 8 next year when incumbent association chief Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang will relinquish his post.
National football team manager Nualphan Lamsam is seen as the front-runner by many as Somyot has confirmed that he would not be seeking a re-election.