Vardy wants victory in tribute to Vichai
JAMIE Vardy hopes Leicester can honour the memory of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha with victory at Cardiff on Saturday.
The club’s owner was one of five people tragically killed after his helicopter crashed in a car park near the King Power Stadium following last weekend’s home game against West Ham.
Leicester’s Carabao Cup tie at home to Southampton was postponed in the wake of the disaster and has been rearranged for Tuesday, November 27, but the Premier League match away to Cardiff will go ahead as planned.
Foxes boss Claude Puel said on Thursday that the result would not be important at Cardiff, but Vardy hopes to honour Srivaddhanaprabha with a fitting performance and a win.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the tragedy, Vardy told Sky Sports News: “We all spoke about wanting to play. It’s what Vichai would’ve wanted and that’s what we are going to do.
“We need to make sure we go out there and honour his name and put in a performance that will hopefully get the win. I know people are saying the result doesn’t matter but for us as players we want to get a positive result.
“It’s going to be tough and very emotional and what the lads wanted to do was play this game and honour the man himself. The main thing is we all come together even stronger and do Vichai proud.”
Vardy also paid tribute to Srivaddhanaprabha, saying the Thai billionaire was more like a family member to the club’s players.
“The relationship was exactly how you’ve seen it put out there. He wasn’t just a chairman, he literally was part of your extended family,” he said.
“It didn’t matter who you were, he always made time for you. And as all the pictures that have been put out have shown, he was always smiling. Those are the things you will never forget and which will stay engraved in your mind.
“From day one, literally from when I first met him up until now, he’s always been really friendly and always wanting to be involved.
“He wasn’t just a chairman, he was part of the squad itself and was always here and always giving you encouragement and wanting to be involved with the lads, and that’s credit to him.”
Puel thinks a return to action might help Leicester to put a traumatic week behind them.
He said: “Playing football has not been at the front of our minds this week but it is one of the best remedies you can have.
“I have 27 players in the squad and all are ready together to give their best and 100 per cent to remember the owner on the pitch. I hope we can find the right balance between conviction and emotion. If we remain just on the emotion it will be difficult, of course.
“I am confident when I saw my players in the training session that they can give their best. For a few minutes in the game when it starts you need your focus just on the football, but before and after the match we cannot forget.”
Daniel Amartey will miss the trip to Cardiff. The 23-year-old midfielder suffered a serious ankle injury during the home draw with West Ham last weekend and is set to be sidelined for around four months after undergoing surgery.
Captain Wes Morgan is available again after serving a ban while Matty James resumed training this week after a long-term Achilles problem.
■ FORMER Wales manager Mark Hughes was at Chelsea when the club’s vice-chairman Matthew Harding was killed in a helicopter crash on the way back from a League Cup tie at Bolton in October 1996.
Ex-striker Hughes, 53, played in a game against Tottenham only a few days later.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of Southampton’s Premier League match against Manchester City on Sunday, Hughes said: “It does affect the club and the players themselves, but what you find in football is you have to get on with your football life and your personal life, you have to deal with tragedy and change.
“It will take time I am sure, given the circumstances, but everybody will I am sure heal in their own time.
“We as players just wanted to do well for the memory of Matthew Harding, and that is how we approached it.
“I am sure the Leicester players, playing at the weekend, will want to make sure they perform well and give the appropriate response.” MERTHYR Town are back in Evo-Stik League South Premier Division South action this afternoon as they head to Dorchester Town.
Gavin Williams’ side will be looking to avoid a third straight league defeat having gone down 1-0 at home against Beaconsfield and 2-0 at Salisbury respectively in recent weeks.
However they will undoubtedly be buoyed by last weekend’s 3-2 triumph from behind at Farnborough in the first qualifying round of the FA Trophy.
Merthyr are currently eighth in the table with five wins and 18 points from 11 matches – just a point off the play-off places and nine back on leaders Weymouth having played one game fewer.
Four of Merthyr’s five league wins so far have come on the road.
Dorchester, who sit in 18th with 12 points from as many matches have, like Merthyr, tasted defeat in both of their last two league outings – but also progressed in the FA Trophy in midweek with victory over Yate Town after a replay.