The man who led Leicester’s dream run
TRYSTS WITH TRAGEDY
LEICESTER: Beer, pies and Buddhist prayers helped endear Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha to Leicester City fans even before the team owned by the Thai duty free billionaire became the Premier League’s most unlikely champions. He rose from obscurity as a printer and leather goods trader to become a poloplaying buddy of royalty and then the improbable hero of a city in England’s Midlands.
But tragedy struck when his helicopter crashed in a fireball outside Leicester’s stadium on Saturday, killing him and four others on board, police and the soccer club said. Vichai, 60, showed a knack for winning people over with charm and largesse. He navigated Thai political turmoil and secured the King Power duty free concession that gave him a fortune estimated at nearly $5 billion.
“I do what I love, so I put love into everything I do,” Vichai said in 2016 as he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Leicester. Weeks later, Leicester City won the title in the world’s most valuable football league led by Italian manager Claudio Ranieri.
The achievement was stunning, given that the team had started the season with odds of 5,000 to one - and far greater chances of relegation. More than other foreign Premier League owners, he forged a close personal connection to the club he had bought in 2010 when Leicester were in English football’s second-tier Championship.
Vichai used his fortune to secure better players. He also bought beer and pastries to reward the loyalty of fans at the King Power stadium that was named for his company. It was just outside the stadium that Vichai crashed in the helicopter he used to take off from the pitch.