Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE’REDEVASTATED, BUT THIS TRAGEDY WILLNOTBREAKUS Foxes vow to rebuild and fulfil the dreams of beloved owner
HE was the man who enabled Leicester City to dream and make sporting history.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was the architect of that 5,000-1 fairytale after buying the then Championship club for £39million in 2010 before pouring in many more.
It saw the Thai duty-free billionaire bankroll the most incredible sporting story of recent times.
Now, two-and-a-half years on, the helicopter disaster will not necessarily mean that
Leicester crumble.
The club has firm foundations with good young players, a first-rate infrastructure and ambitions to continue to thrive as a Premier League force.
Son Aiyawatt (below right, celebrating their title triumph with his dad), known as ‘Top’, is vice-chairman and has long been the man on the ground in Leicester helping to run the club.
His Rolls-royce is always at the stadium, he writes the owners’ programme notes and liaises closely with staff.
That will continue and he has loyal, experienced support from CEO Susan Whelan and director of football Jon Rudkin. Football operations director Andrew Neville has worked in football for over 30 years. This quartet will now be tasked with ensuring that Leicester’s progress under the Srivaddhanaprabhas continues. As a family, neither Top nor his father often spoke publicly. But their actions have been louder than words.
Leicester quickly became a club transformed on and off the pitch following the buy-out of Milan Mandaric.
Their ambitions and funding put the club and the city on the global map.
When unfashionable Leicester stunned the elites, they had never seen such world attention before, even when Richard III’S skeleton was found under a car park.
Srivaddhanaprabha revelled in the success as he paraded the trophy around Leicester and back in his native Thailand. The feats of Claudio Ranieri, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez captured headlines en-route to the title, but the club’s owners were the true driving force behind the success.
They made their lofty ambitions clear soon after arriving as former England boss Sven Goran Eriksson, the Foxes’ manager from October 2010-October 2011, recalled. The Swede said: “When I came to the club he said he wanted to make it a big Premier League club.
“What he has done for Leicester is incredible.”
But like many self-made tycoons, Srivaddhanaprabha sometimes acted ruthlessly in the process.
Nigel Pearson was sacked after a bust-up, despite memorably keeping City up with seven wins from their last nine games in 2015. Ranieri was even infamously sacked in February 2017 with the club in Champions League – 10 months after helping secure the title.
Srivaddhanaprabha’s thirst for success was unquenchable and not swayed by emotion.
Even this season, Leicester have been striving for more after spending £100m on new stars.
A new training ground is in the pipeline as well as an expansion of the King Power’s 32,000 capacity.
Small, comparatively inexpensive gestures have made a big impact too. Fans were treated to free breakfasts, food, drink, scarves, clappers, flags – anything to help enhance the experience for supporters.
The squad themselves were all treated to a blue BMW super car worth £105,000 for winning the title.
But even the flashiest motor in the players’ car park was overshadowed by Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter landing in the centre circle.