City recommend ex-Thai PM's £81.6m bid

Manchester City looks set for a spending spree if Thaksin Shinawatra succeeds in his bid to take over the club.

The former Thai premier said that he has to buy players for the team and revealed that he had met with Sven-Goran Eriksson in his hunt for the manager.

Thaksin, who was ousted last September, has tabled an £81.6 million takeover bid for the Premier League club with the backing of its board.

The former telecommunications tycoon said he wanted to develop City as a club, especially its profile in Asia, and dismissed a misconduct charge laid against him by Thai prosecutors on Thursday as being "politically motivated."

Thaskin said: "What I'm going to bring to the club is fresh ideas from outside, equity and capital, so the club can invest more on players and other infrastructure if necessary."

"The existing players are very good but we will have to bring more, good players... we need to add two more strikers, two more midfielders and then maybe some."

Thaksin added that he hoped to have 75 per cent of City's shares by next week. His investment vehicle, UK Sports Investments, controls around 56 per cent.

The move came hours after Thaksin, who has been based in London since being ousted in a bloodless coup in September, was formally charged with "official misconduct" over a property deal involving his wife.

The attorney general's office recommended that officials seize the 13.2 acre plot of land, valued at around £12 million.

The Thai Supreme Court is to decide on July 10 if they will hear the case.

Thaksin, who has had around £800 million of his personal fortune frozen by the Assets Examination Committee, has been ordered by police to return to Thailand from his London base to face charges that he concealed his ownership of millions of pounds worth of shares from the Thai stock exchange.

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