WE ARE HERE TO BE CLOSER TO THE FANS: LIVERPOOL

The Merseysiders arrived in Bangkok this week to play a game against the Thai national team at the Rajamangala Stadium tomorrow night (kick off at 8pm) – minus captain Steven Gerrard.

“We have a duty to contribute to these football markets and to our supporters over here,” said But Liverpool commercial director Ian Ayre.

“We have in place a strong legacy programme encompassing many different initiatives and which can be broken down into different areas.

“For example, we have a knowledge transfer programme at which Rafa will meet coaches from Thailand and Singapore, I will be meeting representatives from the local businesses and the medical team will also be having sessions.

“We will be running a kids programme with open training sessions to try and show people what we do and how we do it.

“The important thing is that when our plane lands back in Liverpool there will still be things going on in our name over here which we can continue to support.”

Ayre admitted that it was tough picking which countries to tour.

“It’s always difficult deciding where to go on tour because we have so many fans all over the world,” he said.

“But we feel by choosing Thailand and Singapore we are capturing most of Southeast Asia and making it possible for fans from other countries to come and see the team.

“Both countries are traditional hot-beds of support for Liverpool and I know from speaking to our partners out here how excited everyone has been waiting for us to arrive.”

After the match in Thailand tonight, the Red will be off to Singapore for the second leg of their Southeast Asian visit and where they will play against Singapore on 26 July 2009.