Leicester’s vigil to honour billionaire who united the city
IN the watery afternoon sun, the Leicester City first team filed out of the turnstile entrance of the King Power Stadium in matching black King Power tracksuits – pink-eyed, shoulders hunched against the cold.
There were no cheers or waves from the crowds. No selfies, no jostling.
Just silence from the hundreds upon hundreds of people who had come to pay their respects to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the man who transformed the debtridden soccer club into the most unexpected league champions ever in 2016.
The players were here to do the same. They wanted no VIP treatment. Dismissing security, they breached the crash barriers to view the floral tributes with the fans, to read the poignant messages scrawled on a sea of soccer shirts of all sizes, scarves and children’s football boots.
‘To the greatest owner. We owe you everything,’ said one. ‘King of Leicester, King of Hearts,’ said another. But most of all, they wanted to show gratitude to the man who changed everything for the Foxes, from the moment he bought the club in 2010 for £39million (€43.8million).
Many in the crowd had been here all day among the fluttering scarves and bunches of sad blue balloons. Every few minutes dozens more, mostly burly, men – but also women with prams, pensioners, teenagers – arrived on foot clutching bunches of roses, lilies and carnations and laid them in a sea of cellophane, as tears streamed down their faces.
Earlier they watched members of Vichai’s devastated family – Aimon, his wife of 30 years, and son Top – arrive to pay tribute and lay vast ornamental wreaths alongside the fans’ tributes.
Later they laid another large wreath on the centre circle of the pitch from where his doomed helicopter took off on Saturday night.
When the team went to look at the tributes outside the stadium – some weeping, their heads in their hands – Top was in their midst, crying silently too, and wringing his cold hands over and over.
Every so often, either star striker Jamie Vardy or goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel wrapped an arm over his shaking shoulders and pointed out a shirt bearing a message from a six-year-old supporter, or a pair of tiny football boots with a thankyou note stuck to them.
After five minutes or so, there was spontaneous applause. Then other long silent contemplation.
Prince William yesterday said he was ‘lucky’ to have known Mr Srivaddhanaprabha. William, who is president of England’s Football Association, praised him for his contribution to the sport and for his philanthropy.
William also knew the helicopter’s pilot, Eric Swaffer, 53, who was hailed a hero after steering the aircraft away from crowds of fans after Saturday’s Premier League match.
The other victims were staff members Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, and Mr Swaffer’s girlfriend Izabela Lechowicz, 46, who was also a pilot.
Leicester supporter Richard Moss, 68, was at the stadium when the helicopter crashed and had been there pretty much ever since, desperately trying to make sense of it. ‘I knew him, not well, but well enough to know he was unassuming and quiet,’ said the retired prison worker, who was given a free season ticket by Vichai, along with 60 others, to mark the owner’s 60th birthday in 2017.
He added: ‘Look at all the other football club owners – there’s noone like him.
‘All the other clubs wished they had an owner like this one.’
A surprising number at the stadium yesterday had never been to a match, but they also viewed Vichai as a father figure.
‘He did so much for us,’ said Jody Hollingsworth, a mum in her 20s. ‘He cared about us. We were at rock bottom when he arrived, he gave us our pride back.’
‘We’re here for the man who saved Leicester and gave us our spirit back,’ added Sandra Corey, 43, who was there with five friends. ‘He put us on the map.’
Vichai was far, far more than the billionaire owner of a football club who made his fortune in duty free at home in Thailand, and would fly in monks to bless the pitch and the players’ feet.
His largesse – including giving £2million (€2.25million) for a children’s hospital, £1million (€1.1million) to Leicester University’s medical school, and a £105,000 (€118,000) BMW to every team member when they won the Premiership – is well known.
But there were also endless quiet kindnesses. Free pork pies, bacon rolls, beers and scarves to fans travelling to away matches. Mince pies and free drinks at Christmas. Dozens of free season tickets to veteran fans. A freeze in the season ticket price for years.
Pat Chamberlain, 78, said Vichai helped to integrate the local community. She said: ‘He’s brought the Asian community in. It’s been bonding, uniting.’
As experts began analysing the helicopter’s flight recorder, the wreckage lay in the car park around the corner, while his Rolls-Royce remained parked outside the players’ entrance.
The Foxes have lost their Sun God, but hopefully his legacy will live on – not just in the King Power stadium, but in the city of Leicester where Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha did so much good.