ZCZC
BFF-06
BRITAIN-THAILAND-AVIATION-ACCIDENT
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha: author of Leicester’s football fairytale
LONDON, Oct 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Thai
billionaire owner of Leicester City, whose helicopter crashed Saturday
outside the Premier League club’s stadium, is the author of one of football’s
greatest fairytales.
Polo-loving Vichai, 61, endeared himself forever to Leicester fans when the
unfashionable club broke the grip of England’s giants to win the Premier
League in 2016 — the first top-flight title in their history.
The title win, against overwhelming odds, put the city in England’s
Midlands on the global sporting map and brought glory to generations of long-
suffering fans.
Leicester have been unable to reach the same meteoric heights since,
finishing 12th in the following season and ninth in 2017-18 but are now
firmly established as a Premier League club.
Forward Jamie Vardy, the talisman during Leicester’s glory season, on
Saturday tweeted a message that simply showed eight hands held together in
prayer.
Bespectacled Thai tycoon Vichai is known for his unerring common touch,
dishing out free beer and doughnuts at Leicester’s King Power Stadium, where
he often lands his helicopter in the centre circle.
It was from there that his helicopter took off after Saturday’s 1-1 draw
with West Ham before crashing in the car park directly outside the stadium.
Despite his popularity, Vichai remains an enigmatic figure and rarely gives
interviews, preferring to let his son Aiyawatt, known as “Top”, act as the
family frontman.
He also rubs shoulders with celebrities and his surname, meaning “light of
progressive glory,” was bestowed by Thailand’s late king Bhumibol Adulyadej.
“He (Vichai) is a successful businessman and he tried to challenge himself
to get something done,” Top, Leicester’s vice-chairman, told AFP in Bangkok
in 2016.
“He said, I think two or three years before, that he wants the team to be a
success in the Premier League, and now we are.”
– Power of karma –
The avuncular Vichai has carefully navigated Thailand’s treacherous
political waters of recent years, while taking his King Power empire from
strength to strength.
He established the company in 1989, starting with a single shop in Bangkok
and building a multi-billion-dollar empire.
Leicester supporters quickly warmed to him after he bought the then second-
tier Championship strugglers for an estimated 40 million pounds ($51 million)
in 2010.
The devout Buddhist is a firm believer in the power of karma, flying in
Thai monks to bless Leicester’s pitch and give their players lucky amulets.
And while pumping tens of millions of pounds into the team, club debt and
infrastructure, Vichai has spent judiciously.
Leicester’s success was crafted from teamwork, endeavour, and hard work.
– Duty-free –
Vichai rose from relative obscurity, flourishing during the recent years of
political upheaval in Thailand, a country where big contracts follow
political loyalties.
King Power hit the jackpot in 2006 when it won the duty-free concession at
Bangkok’s cavernous new Suvarnabhumi airport, and with it a captive market of
tens of millions of travellers.
In 2007, a year after ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Manchester City’s
former owner, was dumped from office in a coup, Vichai saw off legal moves to
break his duty-free monopoly.
In a kingdom where connections count, he now firmly belongs to the royalist
establishment that turfed out Thaksin. His family received its royal surname
in 2013.
Before football, his first sporting love was polo, the sport beloved of the
international elite, and both he and Top are accomplished players.
Vichai boasts a lifetime membership at London’s Ham Polo Club, frequented
by the British royals, and has a stable of horses and players on retainer in
Bangkok.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0906 hrs