Up The Saints: With Scott Conway & Glenda Sponder (+ Jasmin): Plus The Magic Of The FA Cup. But After 17 Years In Pattaya It Could Be Time To Go Home!

Scott, Glenda, & Jasmin Are About to Call Time on Their Pattaya Journey That Began in 2002.

By: Marc Gingell

12th March 2019

The Magic Of The FA Cup

Saturday, January 3rd, 2004 I woke up, with a usual Saturday hangover, but full of anticipation and expectation as the FA Cup third round day had arrived. Just a few months before I had my seat for the final that Southampton narrowly lost to Arsenal 1-0 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

That day 73,726 people turned up to witness Robert Pires score the only goal of the game in the 38th minute. But I hadn’t taken a seat at the Millennium Stadium. Instead I’d taken a seat where I watched most Saturday night Premier League games between 2000 and 2005. The Atlantic Bar, on the Second Road, just before Soi 2. About 20 people were sat around the bar watching the big screen.

Pattaya One. FA Cup Final 2003. The defeated crowd sang on.

18 Neutrals 1 Arsenal Fan and Me

At the end of the game, as the camera panned in on all the Southampton fans singing ‘oh when the Saints Go Marching in,’ a tear might have slipped out of my left eye and rolled down my left cheek. The one Arsenal fan spotted this and bought me a drink. If you’re reading this Arsenal fan – thank you.

Pattaya One. The Atlantic Bar. Second Raod just before Soi 2.

Back to January 3rd 2004

We’re home to Newcastle and after I’d done all the usual family stuff, which used to include the weekly shopping and taking the family for some kind of Saturday lunch, I put on my special 2003 souvenir FA Cup Final shirt and started to make my way to the game. My pre-game routine back then was Soi’s 8, 7, and 2 before taking my seat in the Atlantic Bar.

Southampton 0 Newcastle 3

All I can remember is that we were very poor.

Post Match Routine

My last port of call on a Saturday night used to be the Bamboo Bar because it was only about a two-minute motorbike taxi ride from where I lived. Most Saturday’s I could be found, Heineken bottle in hand, leaning against the bar trying to keep my eyes open. The house band were probably playing ‘In the Navy’ with a lot of foreigners doing their thing on the dance floor.

On this particular occasion, and the reason why I remember it so well, a female English voice woke me up with a question.

‘Here. Are you from Southampton?’

Female English Voice Woke Me Up

I woke up with an ‘Ugh.’

My Bamboo Saturday night routine had been going on for about six years and during that time no English female voices had spoken to me before. But this one had and she sounded pretty much like the women from Southampton. And she was! It was Glenda and she told me to come and say hello to Scott. They had a table quite close to the dance floor.

Pattaya One. Glenda, in the right corner, arm wrestling for charity.

In My Zone, I Declined

With the time approaching 02:00 a.m. I’d now entered a zone where I knew communication wouldn’t be easy so I declined. The next thing I remember is that I’m sat at their table. Scott, it turned out, went to Weston Park Boys School, as I did, and we grew up about one mile apart.

Pattaya One. Educating Jasmin. Scott training Jasmin how to be a bingo caller. Next stop could be sunny Blackpool.

We didn’t know each other but we must have been at the same school for about four years. Although he should have noticed me on the stage a few times during assemblies picking up sporting awards!

Glenda even worked for the Southampton Daily Newspaper, as I once did, and we knew a lot of the same people.

Pattaya One. Scott in the ring for a recent boxing event that included Nigel Benn. He’s due to compare another event that will take place early next month.

Sunday Morning Hangover

So the kids, who must have been about six and four at the time, woke me up and in amongst my hungover thoughts I kept thinking about two English people. It must have been a dream and it wasn’t until the afternoon, when my ex-wife found a piece of paper in my jeans with names and a telephone number on and started giving me the third degree, did I realise that it must have been real.

The Premiership Bar

It turned out that they had the Premiership Bar in Soi Diana and it must have been one of the first Bars in Pattaya that showed a few live games at the same time. I added Scott and Glenda’s to my pre-match Saturday routine but many times didn’t make due to being delayed at other places.

15th May 2005

Southampton 1 Manchester United 2. Sorrows were drowned at the Premiership Bar as Southampton were relegated from the Premier League.

Back To Scott, Glenda, and Jasmin

Scott and Glenda arrived in Pattaya in 2002, Jasmin came along a few years later, and they were busy. They had:

Pattaya One. Scotties Mini-Mart and Restaurant.

• Fatties Tip Plaza
• Fatties Big C Second Road
• Scott arranged wrestling and he put on three shows per day just passed Soi Six.
• The Premiership Bar and Restaurant in Soi Diana
• The Premiership Bar and Restaurant near the Dolphin Roundabout which became the World of Sport Bar.
• Dine for 99 Baht in Khao Noi and Jomtien by the traffic lights where you turn right to drive to the beach..
• For the last six years, they’ve had Scotties in the Centre Condo

Pattaya One. World of Sport Bar and Restaurant.

Scott the Wrestler

Scott has a wrestling background and after he finished wrestling himself he put on wrestling shows and quite a few good wrestlers came to Pattaya for Scott’s shows. But during his wrestling days, at the age of about thirty, he developed high blood pressure and kidney problems. The doctor then advised him that he would be on Dialysis by the time he was 50.

Pattaya One. Scott, Negel Benn, and Jasmin.

Scott Made it to 52

His doctor was wrong by 2 years as Scott began Dialysis at the age of 52. He now needs Dialysis three times a week until a replacement kidney can be found. Apart from that Scott is fine, although he still has the same sense of humour, but he knows it’s now time to return home to receive the treatment he needs and get on the list for a transplant. No, not the humour, the kidney!

This is why, after 17 years, Scott, Glenda, and Jasmin who came along a little bit later will return to the UK and they are looking for someone to take over Scotties. I think 3M Baht is the asking price. It’s a great location, right in the heart of South Pattaya (near Bamboo Bar), and you have a ready made customer base with the 580 rooms at the Centre Condon. If anyone’s interested go and have a chat with Scott.

I Will Miss Them

It’s not often you meet people from your home town and one went to the same school and you worked at the same place as the other one. So I will miss them, especially as sometimes, on a Saturday night when the ATM machine gulped my card, I always knew Scott would be close by to bail me out of trouble.