33 years of supporting Aston Villa, a long wait until setting foot on Thai soil / Revealing the origin of the tattoo of Unai Emery holding the championship trophy - preparing to tattoo the signature next to it.
Typically, Thai football fans supporting English clubs often choose among Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, and Manchester City as their top five or six teams. But not "Tae," who took a unique path by supporting Aston Villa since the 1992/93 season.
"The reason I support Aston Villa goes back to my childhood. I lived with my siblings and relatives when an aunt (my mother's elder sister) returned from England and brought gifts from several teams: Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Aston Villa. The aunt let the kids pick their own. Everyone chose first, and only the Villa jersey was left, so I took it and have supported them since then."
Because Aston Villa was a smaller team, 20 to 30 years ago it wasn't easy to watch their live broadcasts since only big matches were televised. "Tae" had to visit the club's website to listen to live commentary in English.
"I had to listen that way. I admit sometimes I understood and sometimes I didn't, but I could tell when a goal was scored. Matches were on Saturdays and Sundays, and by Monday, UBC would replay highlights. I would watch and compare to what I heard to understand how the goals happened."
"I wondered if there were others who supported Aston Villa like me, because in high school at Bodindecha (Sing Singhaseni) School, Class 33 (I'm from Pub Thairath Sport Class 44 by coincidence, haha), I was the only one supporting this team. So I tried to find fellow fans outside and found them on a webboard, then got their numbers to talk."
The first Aston Villa fan meeting in Thailand occurred over 20 years ago, with only six people attending, including "Tae."
"Aston Villa began to have respectable performances during Martin O'Neill's era. We started to have debates with fans of other teams," he laughed.
Another day "Tae" was most excited was when he learned Aston Villa would tour Asia and play in Hong Kong against Bayern Munich.
"When I heard the match was announced, I immediately booked tickets, thinking it wouldn't come any closer to us. Initially, I excluded Thailand, thinking they'd choose bigger Asian countries like Japan. But then it was announced Aston Villa would play BG Pathum in Thailand. I couldn't miss it, so I flew from Chiang Mai determined to watch the game."
The image that went viral on social media is of Aston Villa manager Unai Emery seeing "Tae's" tattoo of Emery holding the Europa League trophy on his back, then signing his autograph next to it.
Tae explained the origin of this tattoo:
"One night, while chatting with my wife as usual, I accidentally said with intent, 'Mom... I really admire Unai Emery. If I have a chance to talk to him once in my life, it would be something I'd die happy doing. One day, if Unai brings Villa a European championship, I'll tattoo a picture of him kissing the trophy on my back.'"
"Deep down, I dreamed that if one day I really met him, I'd nudge him to look at the tattoo and ask him to sign next to his image. But after saying that, I laughed at myself knowing it was just a 'pipe dream.'"
"There are billions of people in the world, we're on opposite sides of the globe. How could an ordinary person like me stand face to face with a world-class manager like him? What are the chances that would ever happen?"
"But amazingly... the miraculous dream I once laughed at all happened within just 77 days."
20 May 2026: Villa won the Europa League championship as dreamed.
12 July 2026: I decided to go to the tattoo shop and put the image of Unai kissing the trophy on my back as promised.
4 August 2026: I stood face to face with Unai Emery as a fan who met him before leaving the stadium."
Did you know... when Unai Emery saw "Tae's" tattoo, he immediately smiled, zipped his pants pocket, took out his phone, and took a selfie with "Tae" himself.
Additionally, "Tae" was invited by Aston Villa's media team to travel to Hong Kong to film and tell his story as a devoted fan. His journey has come far—from being the only Aston Villa supporter in his school to being interviewed by the club.
"I don't want to be famous. I'm just a fan supporting the team. But if sharing my story helps, I'm ready. I consider that fulfilling my role as a fan to the club."
"What I want to tell Aston Villa is that this club is part of my life. Supporting them, running the Villa fan page, traveling to follow the team—I am very happy. Even though Aston Villa's performance has ups and downs, for me, it's like life with its highs and lows."
This year, "Tae" hopes Aston Villa maintains their European qualification spot for next season and secretly wishes the team reaches the UEFA Champions League final. If that happens, he plans to fly to Spain to cheer them on.
When I finished interviewing him at 1:30 p.m. on 5 August 2026, "Tae" was heading to the tattoo shop at 3:00 p.m. to have Unai Emery's signature tattooed next to his existing tattoo.
"If I'm late, the signature might fade," he said to me with a laugh.
This is the story of a dream come true for a fan named "Tae," a devoted Aston Villa supporter and owner of the "Villa Pak Dee" fan page.
Congratulations, Tae.
— Pub Thattat —