Leicester weeps for family who changed club and city

By Steve Madeley

As the grim, potential consequences of events at the King Power Stadium began to make themselves clear, one Leicester City supporter articulated the emotions of many more.

“These people have given me the best years of my life,” he said, fighting back tears.

It was a simple thought that explained the wave of emotion in the East Midlands city about a family from a foreign land who changed the landscape forever at an unfashionable football club.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha saved Leicester City from the threat of relegation and took the club back to the Premier League.

Flowers being laid at the King Power Stadium after the helicopter used by Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed in flames near the football ground shortly after 8.30pm on Saturday evening. Srivaddhanaprabha was one of five people to die in the crash. Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

That alone would have been enough to guarantee the unerring gratitude of supporters, yet the Thai transformation at the King Power Stadium took dramatic twists and emotional turns that even the Srivaddhanaprabha family — no strangers to thinking big — could not have imagined.

The 2016 Premier League title success was, quite simply, the greatest day in Leicester City’s history.

It was the greatest story in the history of the league and one of the most remarkable stories in English football.

And it would have been unthinkable without the influence of Srivaddhanaprabha and his son Aiyawatt, which goes to explain why the family receives regal treatment in Leicester, and why the outpouring of grief in the wake of Saturday’s events was so raw and so real.

They were forgiven in 2015 when, in the wake of Leicester’s ‘Great Escape’, they sacked Nigel Pearson, the manager who had delivered it.

They were even forgiven in 2017, when Claudio Ranieri was axed just months after winning the Premier League title, defying odds of 5,000-1.

It was a ruthless, brutal decision that sparked outrage among the wider football community, yet Leicester’s supporters offered sympathy to the Italian but support to the owners who cut him off in his prime, such was the loyalty the family commanded thanks to their transformational impact.

On the face of it, Leicester appeared to be a trivial diversion for a billionaire Thai who had made his fortune in his homeland’s Duty Free industry.

The investment turned out, however, to be the start of a special relationship between family and foreign city that was cemented forever with the incredible title triumph and the Champions League adventure that followed.

There were smaller touches, too, that brought further goodwill from a fanbase and community who sensed a genuine commitment make their club better.

While Leicester became a handy promotional vehicle for the King Power empire, the provision of free beer, mince pies, cakes, rattles, and other gifts to fans proved that Leicester was more than a commercial venture for its benevolent owner.

His journey to becoming Thailand’s fifth richest man had begun in 1989 when he opened a Duty Free shop in downtown Bangkok.

It was the start of King Power, which would eventually dominate the sector and enjoy a virtual monopoly of Duty Free business at Thailand’s major airports.

Business boomed and this year Forbes estimated his net wealth at $4.9bn (€4.29bn).

It was a financial success story that allowed him to indulge his interest in sport, with Leicester purchased in 2010.

Promotion to the Championship in 2009 was followed by King Power’s takeover and, in 2014, a resurgent Leicester returned to the Premier League under Pearson, re-hired by Srivaddhanaprabha for a second spell in charge.

A year later there was more drama as Leicester survived seemingly certain relegation with a remarkable run at the end of the season.

That ‘great escape’ proved to be the springboard for a fairytale as Ranieri, who had succeeded Pearson as a surprise new manager, led a team that became legendary to break the stranglehold of the Premier League’s ‘big six’.

The title win led to the Champions League, where they prospered despite the loss of Ranieri and reached the quarter-finals at the first attempt.

There was to be no immediate repeat of the title challenge but, with Claude Puel enjoying their backing as manager and with a new training ground and stadium expansion in the pipeline, King Power have big plans for Leicester’s future. Whether or not they bear fruit, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has already taken fans on the greatest sporting adventure they will ever experience. It is why the horror of Saturday’s crash and last night’s confirmation of the death of Srivaddhanaprabha brought such an outpouring of grief.