Thaksin placed formal bid for Manchester City

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai Prime Minister who failed in his efforts to buy Liverpool for 65 million pounds three years ago, has made a formal bid to take over English Manchester City on Saturday.

"What I can say now is we have tendered a bid for the team," Thaksin's lawyer Noppadon Pattama told Reuters. A leading Thai newspaper said on Saturday that a GBP 100 million deal had already been reached, but Noppadon said this was premature and "the deal is not formally or legally concluded yet."

The report also said Thaksin, who is a billionaire telecoms tycoon, would become club chairman and that he wanted to bring in former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri to replace sacked manager Stuart Pearce. Thaksin would also put four Thai businessmen on the club's executive board and push for some Thai national team players to play in the club's reserve teams, the newspaper said.

Thaksin, who lives in London, is accused of corruption during his five years in office, has not returned to Thailand since a bloodless military putsch in September. However, the Telegraph newspaper reports that Manchester City are still in talks with several parties over a potential takeover but have not received a bid from Thaksin, although he is thought to be close to completing due diligence. Discussions are also believed to be ongoing with former player Ray Ranson, while an American consortium is still thought to be interested.