Therdsak Chaiman
Therdsak Chaiman (; born 29 September 1973), simply known as Uncle Therd (), is a Thai retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and later became a manager. Therdsak was a prolific goalscorer, free kick specialist, and could shoot with both feet. Therdsak also once played futsal for the Thai national team. Club career. Therdsak is regarded as one of Southeast Asia's finest footballers. In 2002, he was loaned out to SAFFC in 2002 and proceeded to win the S.League player of the year. In 2003, Therdsak led BEC Tero Sasana to the final of the AFC  Champions League against Al Ain FC in 2003. He scored against Taejon Citizen and Shanghai Shenhua in the process and was named the 2003 AFC Champions League most valuable player. In 2004, Therdsak secured a move to Vietnam's East Asia Bank but did not settle well due to a stomach muscle injury which kept him out for seven months. He promptly rejoined his former club SAFFC in 2005 despite interest from Home United Football Club. Despite his diminutive frame, Therdsak has proved to be more than capable to play with the bigwigs of international football, and at his peak , impressing many with his surging runs, vision and shot technique not often seen among footballers of his region. Therdsak officially announced his retirement from professional football on 19 November 2017 after end of Thai League 1 season 2017 with quit of the manager job at Chonburi. Managerial career. On 21 December 2015, Chonburi has promoted Therdsak from player-coach to be the new manager of the club after the departure of Jadet Meelarp. Therdsak made the official managerial debut on 2 February 2016 in AFC Champions League Preliminary Round 2 against Myanmar champion, Yangon United at Chonburi Stadium. Chonburi won  3–2 at the extra time. Chonburi were knocked out of the AFC competition in the final playoff by losing 0–9 to FC Tokyo from Japan. International career. In 2002, Therdsak was instrumental for the Thailand national football team in the Tiger Cup which they won. He was awarded the Tiger Cup Most Valuable Player Award for his displays in the tournament. In June 2007, he was recalled into the national football team for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup after a lengthy absence from the team due to fatigue. Honours. Manager. Uthai Thani