Football Season Guide

Last season ended in relative disappointment. A strong mid-season run had fans believing that continental football was on the cards but they fell away, and only managed to finish in eighth, having conceded more goals than a team with their aspirations should have. The big news from this club pre-season was not a new signing or player sale, but rather the fact that star attacker Yotsakon Burapha stayed. It should prove to be a massive win for them as this sleeping giant of Thai football seeks to become a top team once more. It cannot be denied that they lost some key/regular players pre-season but none of them were wholly unexpected. Take Queven, for example. His importance waned throughout last season for a variety of reasons. Bolingi is another example - he played a lot, for all of his quality, he didn't do enough in the final third. The club moved to sign proven replacements for the afore-mentioned. Veteran attacker Negueba joined, for example - a great signing, assuming they can keep him fit. Ritter and Veerachat joined to replace Queven, and at least one of them should be an improvement in terms of availability and consistency. It's in attack where they shone pre-season. They managed to pull off some massive coups with the likes of Murillo, Doi, Ito, and Stenio joining, all of which were regulars/key players at other Thai League One club last season. They've now got a seriously dangerous attack. On top of the above, they've added some depth and experience to their ranks - Tasa and Do stand out as good acquisitions. By themselves, none of their new recruits are life-changing. However, as a collective, they're likely to transform Chonburi into a team that competes for silverware. They're not playing continental football this season, which helps. However, they've got plenty of new faces to integrate, and they've lost midfielder Darko to a bad injury so they may start a little slower than some. They look set for a good campaign though. A high finish is quite possible.