I couldn't sleep last night as I was excited about getting my hands on a Robbie Fowler Muangthong United shirt. You can chalk that up to being a long-time and forever Liverpool fan. You can read about the back story here. I was told that there were three Fowler white shirts left all in my size and that all the more had me salivating. I wondered what if the dude at Grand Sports had it wrong? I couldn't wear a shirt size smaller. What's the point if it doesn't fit? Daylight couldn't come soon enough.
I took a metered cab to Muangthong at 10am from the hotel and the trip going there would take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour with traffic. There's the toll fee of 55 baht as well. As soon as we got out of the city that was zero traffic. The scenery reminded me of going to Alabang while on SLEX. Once we got to Muang Thong there was this huge stadium to our left. It wasn't the club's home field though. A three minute drive later, we arrived at the home stadium where the club's offices were.
The facilities were mighty impressive. There was an office and locker room exclusively for their youth academy. There were locker rooms for the home and visiting teams. There was a press room and two stores for team merchandise. There were booths for concessionaires. Very first class. They had a wall with all the pictures and names of the players. There was also a massive wall for the current Thai Premier League standings. In the picture above, that is the team's practice facility. A turf field called Singha Park. One of the club coaches invited me over to the turf and he took my picture.
I arrived at 10:47 and was nervous when I saw the shop still closed. The sign said store hours were from 11am-9pm. I wondered if they opened on time because if they didn't the cab's meter would be murder on me (I had the cabbie wait). From the hotel it was about 177 baht. The shop did open on time and yes, there was a white Robbie Fowler shirt waiting for me. Dangnab near made my day (the cherry topping would be the Azkals beating Vietnam again). There were magazines with Robbie (I cannot begin to call him the G-word because as a hardcore Catholic that would be sacrilege), shirts, and mugs. I picked up a mug and some keychains.
The shirt cost me 495 baht (since it was from the previous season). The away colors were still available but there were no more letterings for Fowler that matched it. Nevertheless, I was pleased. It's not Liverpool but it's the closest thing (until I get his Perth Glory shirt). Thanking the Man Above for this. I'm a happy man.
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