This is the full transcript of Football Tribe and Gian Chansrichawla’s exclusive interview with Ayutthaya United head coach Santi Chaiyaphuak. A full audio of this interview is available courtesy of the Ta Lao podcast, as well as a feature article on Santi’s career on Football Tribe.
Gian: Many people know you as the former assistant manager at Muangthong United, and you were an interim/caretaker coach for a short time. Now that you are a head coach at Ayutthaya United, how does it feel?
Santi: When I was an assistant I would only support, but now as a head coach I take more responsibility. I must talk with the board about bringing players, take care of the training, and everything. But when I was an assistant, I would only support, maybe talk with the players, and help with training sessions.
Do you enjoy this more?
Yes, for sure!
You have worked a lot as an assistant to Coach Ban (Totchtawan Sripan) at both Muangthong and Suphanburi – what do you like about his coaching style, and what have you learned from working with him?
He has a good character for a coach, and he has a [good] style. He’d play a style, like 4-4-2, but would not be fixed in the 4-4-2. We can rotate – maybe when we attack, we can change to a 3-5-2, [for example]. That’s why I say, football in the system we have formations, but in the game we can change. Coach Ban often did this.