F

or a man who once scored the winning goal in a European Cup final for the reigning English champions, it may have seemed like a small achievement. And yet, Peter Withe felt a sense of satisfaction as his struggling Thai club side avoided relegation on the final day of the season last weekend.

Withe became a coaching hero in Thailand after helping the country'€™s team become champions of Southeast Asia in 2000 and 2002. These days, he carries the same passion as he manages Nakhon Pathom United FC, a relatively obscure club in the nation'€™s second tier.

Nakhon Pathom United secured their status for next season in Thai Division 1 '€” which is one rung below the Premier League '€” with a five-to-one victory over bottom-placed Sriracha Ban Bueng that saw them finish 13th on the table.

'€œI'€™m very proud of the result because when I took over in August I was asked to see if I could turn things around as they were virtually gone,'€ Withe told ESPN FC. '€œWe got the players organized and fitter and we started to win games.'€

Nakhon Pathom United is a small central Thailand club, without a major sponsor, about 60 kilometers west of Bangkok. Their 6,000-capacity home ground is a lot smaller than the imposing Rajamangala stadium in the capital where Withe masterminded Thailand'€™s four-to-one victory over Indonesia in the 2000 AFF Championship final.

Just five months before accepting his latest job, Withe was sacked as manager of newly-promoted Premier League side PTT Rayong after six months in charge following a faltering start to the season. He reluctantly returned to Thai club football in a lower division at the request of one of his former players from Nakhon Pathom United.

And yet the Liverpool-born 63-year-old said he has no intention of fading into obscurity in Asia'€™s lesser leagues. He insisted that his long-term goal hasn'€™t changed. He said he still wants to become manager of his beloved Aston Villa where he worked for a decade as a player and in a variety of coaching roles.

'€œIt'€™s always been my ambition to manage Aston Villa. Am I capable of doing it? Of course I am,'€ he said.

'€œIn Asia, it'€™s often a case of '€˜out of sight, out of mind'€™, but I'€™ve previously worked in many different coaching roles at Villa, apart from the manager'€™s job. In many ways, coaching in Asia is a harder job than managing in the Premier League.'€

In 1991, when Withe was reserve team coach at Aston Villa, he took the job as manager of Wimbledon in the English top-flight. But after only one victory in 13 games, he was replaced by Joe Kinnear and then returned to Villa Park in a lesser coaching role.

After a promising start to the season, Aston Villa have now slumped to 16th spot on the table after six successive defeats.

'€œI'€™ve met [manager] Paul Lambert on a number of occasions and he'€™s passionate about the club,'€ Withe said. '€œBut it'€™s a results-based business and the fans are clearly unhappy.'€

An imposing striker who earned 11 England caps and went to the 1982 World Cup, Withe scored 20 times in 36 matches as Aston Villa won the 1981 English title. But it was his goal that slayed Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final in Rotterdam that earned him footballing immortality.

Withe re-invented himself when he came to Southeast Asia in 1998, venturing into the unknown. Not only was he in charge of Thailand for four years, he also had a three-year spell as head coach in
Indonesia. He was less successful with the Merah Putih, but he did take them to the brink of winning the 2004 AFF Championship on home soil, just days after the Boxing Day tsunami. Following an emotional semifinal win over Malaysia, Indonesia lost the final, five-to-two on aggregate, to Singapore.

Since leaving the Indonesia job in 2007, Withe and his wife Kathy lived in Perth, Western Australia, before he moved back to England to work as manager of non-league Stockport Sports FC in 2012.

Withe is well-known in other parts of Asia, thanks to his appearances a decade ago as a pundit on ESPN'€™s English Premier League coverage from Singapore.

But more than any other nation, Thailand seems to hold the strongest grip on him. The family connection to the so-called Land of Smiles has been further cemented by his 43-year-old son Jason, who coached his third Thai club this season, Sonkhla United.

The two Withes, who worked together in the Indonesian national set-up between 2005 and 2007, faced each other as opposing head coaches for the first time in a friendly inter-club match in August.

Withe senior said he isn'€™t sure if he will stay on with Nakhon Pathom United for another season. But he said he continues to be surprised by the reaction of fans wherever he goes in Thailand.

'€œI'€™m staggered and humbled by the number of people who'€™ve approached me for autographs and, of course, selfies, which are so popular here in Thailand,'€ he said.

'€œSome of them seem far too young to remember me as the national coach.'€

The dream of managing Aston Villa might seem like pie-in-the-sky stuff, but, then again, many of the goals he achieved in the past 40 years seemed equally far-fetched.