Man City’s Dietmar Hamann is flanked by manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, right, and Kasper Schmeichel at the press conference.

Man City manager refuses to talk about future, but plans to play three Thais in exhibition game

Local fans will get a chance to catch three Thai players in the colours of Manchester City in action for the first time when the Premier League club play an exhibition match tomorrow.

The Blues, owned by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, are currently on their post-season Asia tour. They are scheduled to face the Thailand Premier League All-Star team before leaving for Hong Kong on Tuesday.

With his future at the club under threat, all the media attention was focused on manager Sven-Goran Eriksson but he has been on silent mode since arriving in Thailand on Wednesday.

The media were keen to hear Eriksson's words about all the speculation when he attended a press conference yesterday.

However, the press were disappointed as they never got a chance to ask Eriksson any questions. The brief

remark the Swede made was about the exhibition match, saying that Suree Sukha, Teerasil Daengda and Kiatprawut Saiwaew would make their first appearance for the Blues since their transfer in November.

"It's very nice to be here and we look forward to the match on Saturday. Most of the first-team members are here. We also have young players from the academy and they won the FA Youth Cup recently. So, that's the future of the club."

Asked if Eriksson was not allowed to make any comment on his future, City spokesman Paul Tyrrell said in an exclusive interview with Daily Xpress that there was no gag order.

"It's not the question of him not being allowed. He just doesn't want to. He's here to prepare the team for Saturday's game. There is no ban on him. He decided himself and he asked the players to just talk about the game," Tyrrell said.

He clarified that Thaksin never said that there would be a review of the manager's post, but it would be an overall review of the club.