Leicester’s chairman stepped in and paid for the lot at his own expense, hosting the event at the stadium.
As Leicester’s supporters’ club chairman Cliff Ginneta said at the time of his death: “The Srivaddhanaprabha family are loved by the Leicester public – not just for what they have done for the football club – but also for the city.
“They have put the city on the map worldwide.
“They have put millions of pounds into the club and lots more into hospitals and children’s care.”
Thousands will benefit from that patronage, of course, but it is the more personal touches that possibly mean more.
Such as that involving Richard Page, whose son Ellis suffers from a rare chromosome disorder.
Page Snr cycled to all of Leicester’s 23 away matches during the 2013-14 promotion campaign, raising money to raise awareness. Vichai intervened, upon hearing of Ellis’ plight, and the youngster was the mascot for the away fixture at QPR, skipper Wes Morgan carrying him on to the pitch.
The campaign’s target was £100,000 but had fallen some £30,000 short until the chairman and his son, Aiyawatt, donated the cash to push it over the line.
The Very Reverend David Monteith will lead the eulogy at today’s service.
He said: “Kun Vichai was supportive of so many important causes in Leicester and it’s heartwarming to see his legacy.”
The city of Leicester mourned as one 12 months ago when Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter plunged from the sky.
And they will unashamedly come together again today to embrace and celebrate the life of a man who became one of their own.
HOSPITALS
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
KING RICHARD III INTERMENT
Vichai has done far more for the city of Leicester than even the club’s fans
may know
He put the club and the city on the map worldwide
LEICESTER CATHEDRAL
AYOZE PEREZ has revealed the real danger of having Jamie Vardy in the same side.
Even when you score a long-awaited hat-trick, there is a chance you could end up missing out on the match ball.
Luckily for the Spaniard, who had failed to find the net even once since his £30million move from Newcastle in the summer, the tendency in the modern game to use multiple balls came to the rescue.
It took Perez less than an hour to notch his second hat-trick against Southampton this year, having matched the feat at St James’ Park towards the end of last season.
But with the final kick, Vardy completed his own hat-trick from the spot, equalling the Premier League’s record win of 9-0 in the process.
Perez said: “After I got two, I was thinking about the hat-trick a lot to be honest.
“The guys told me I had to have it in my mind, so I tried to score.
“It was an unbelievable ball by Harvey Barnes for the third, but then our No.9 scored another hat-trick.
“So I thought we were going to share the ball, but in the end
Kun Vichai donated £2million towards the University Hospital of Leicester’s Children’s Hospital appeal. The east Midlands is the only area in the country without a singlesited children’s hospital. The target is £7.5m and so far the Srivaddhanaprabha family have helped push gifts to more than £4m. The children’s intensive care unit has been named after Vichai and his son Apichet is a regular visitor.
The club’s late owner also dug into his pocket to hand over £1m towards medical research and training at the University Hospital in Leicester along with adding another £1m to the club’s foundation.
After news broke that archeologists had confirmed that the king was buried under a council car park in Leicester city centre, the football club’s chairman gave £100,000 to pay towards the cost of his reinterment.
A grant of £800,000 was made towards the restoration of the city’s cathedral (above). Eventually, it will contain the tomb of King Richard III and a heritage centre that will drive visitor numbers to Leicestershire.
IT’S A VARD LUCK LIFE: Perez (right) and Vardy we’re having one each!”
The trip to Southampton was Perez’s 11th game for the Foxes and another goalscoring duck would have equalled his longest dry run since his first season in English football five years ago.
The 26-year-old admitted it had been playing on his mind.
“I’ve been thinking a while about getting my first goal,” he said.
“I knew, as soon as the first one came, goals will keep coming and in this case, it ended up in a hat-trick!
“So, it means a lot for me, I’m very happy, very proud of myself, but even more important: the team, what we’ve done out there.
“It was an unbelievable night! We showed big quality out there. We played very well, a great performance on an amazing night. We can’t be more happy!”