Blue Peter

Every now and then you read something truly astounding in the newspaper.

Some call it the "FMD factor" - as in "Fuck Me Doris! They've only gone and..."

The news that Peter Reid is coaching the Thai national squad scored pretty high on my FMD scale today.

I don't know where I was in September when this breathtakingly bizarre appointment was made - but the statement from our man in Bangkok that he doesn't want his old job at Sunderland back was the first I'd heard that he was out of the country.

But he's not just out of the country - he's in Thailand, managing their national side.

That's what I love about Peter Reid, he's nothing if not unpredictable. While most of the English football fraternity head to Spain when they decide to quit the UK, Huyton-born Reid has taken himself off to Thailand. Genius.

What's that all about? Does he speak Thai? Is Peter Reid to Thailand what Fabio is to England? There are *so* many questions I need answers to here, people.

I've always loved Peter Reid, ever since his foul-mouthed turn as the irate Sunderland manager in reality TV docu drama "Premier Passions".

What's not to love about the man who was happy to sound off to sports writers with pronouncements like "if I was in a boxing match with Dennis [Wise], I'd be delighted to face him if he goes down that easily" and, after a 3-0 thrashing "it was like Billy Smart's circus"?

Can't you just picture the bewildered faces of the Thai team as the Scouser embarks on an expletive-laden half time rant?

Don't you just wish you didn't have to imagine it, but could watch it fly-on-the-wall-style for yourself?

Don't you think it's time someone commissioned "Premier Passions - in Thailand?

Or is that a very different show?