O’NEILL’S GRIEF
Ireland boss pays tribute to Foxes chief
AN emotional Martin O’Neill has hailed the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha as the man who ‘was everything to Leicester City’.
The Republic of Ireland manager yesterday paid a heartfelt tribute to the former Leicester City chairman who died in a helicopter crash just yards from the King Power Stadium on Saturday night.
‘For the disaster to happen so close to the football club is very difficult to take in at the moment,’ said O’Neill.
‘This was a normal practice for the owner to come in, park the helicopter in the middle of the pitch and everybody thought it was great.’
That same pitch from where Srivaddhanaprabha took his last, ill-fated, flight on Saturday witnessed Leicester’s coronation as Premier League champions in 2016 and staged Champions League football the following season.
‘Let’s be fair, I don’t think any of that would have happened had it not been for the owner. I think all of Leicester are well aware of that,’ added O’Neill.
‘He gave them the opportunity, he gave them
everything that they needed — a fantastic achievement and one that was well merited,’ he added. O’Neill spent four and half years as manager at Leicester, when they played at Filbert Street, leading the club into the Premier League and achieving two League Cup triumphs in 1997 and 2000. The club, insists the Derryman, will always be close to his heart. ‘I’d really great days there myself, we did half decent and we won a couple of trophies, but the winning of the Premier League a couple of years ago was absolutely phenomenal and the manager [Claudio Ranieri] has to take great credit for that.’ O’Neill (left) held Srivaddhanaprabha in high regard as did the players of Leicester and the people of England’s East Midlands who warmed to the Thai businessman from the moment he took ownership of the club in 2010, at a time when the club was enduring struggling times in the Championship. ‘I’ve never known someone as owner who was so popular. This wasn’t made up,’ stressed O’Neill, who acknowledged the immense work carried out by Srivaddhanaprabha away from the club. ‘He went into the community, he made donations to the universities, donations to the hospitals, and the Leicester people took to him. ‘You can see that outpouring of grief at the moment, it’s as genuine as they come, and I think that speaks volumes for the man that we’re talking about.’ ‘He was everything to Leicester.’