Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is one of a kind
November 10. It was raining in the city of Leicester. The King Power Stadium was filled with people on that day. It was a normal match between Leicester City and Burnley. Yet, something was different.
Thousands started to shed drops of tears when a video started to play on the big screen. Thousands on that day wore scarfs reading out the words ‘Mr. Chairman’. The video proceeds, showing pictures and clippings of a man, whose smile lit the whole stadium when the team he owned, Leicester City FC, won the Premier League Trophy for the first the time in the 2015- 16 season, beating the probability of 1/ 5000. The video ends, and a giant banner starts floating among the thousands of Leicester City fans who had thronged the stadium that day, reading the words- ‘Khun Vichai, Forever In Our Hearts’.
Thousands that day showed up to pay their heartfelt tributes to Vichai Raksriaksorn, the visionary and Chairman of King Power Ltd., one of the largest companies in Thailand dealing with duty- free stores; Thailand’s fourth richest man; honoured with the family name of ‘Srivaddhanaprabha’ by the Thai Royal Family, who tragically died on October 28 this year after the helicopter he was in crashed, just outside the famed home stadium of the team he owned, where all these scenes gracefully took place.
Khun Vichai was not only a successful businessman and a successful chairman of a football club which was longing for success for the longest time; he was a generous human being who cared for his team and thousands of its loyal fans- just like a big knitted family.
He gifted 19 BMWs, each for one player of the club, as a gift for winning the Premier League that year. He used to give donuts and cakes on his birthday, nearly 30,000 of them, if there was a Leicester’s match that day. He also flew down Buddhist monks to bless the players, the King Power Stadium and the city of Leicester. Such gestures will never be seen from a Chairman of a football club.
Not only that, he donated 2 million pounds for a children’s hospital in 2016, 1 million pounds to the University of Leicester’s medical department in 2017, and he even loaned 100 million pounds to clear off their debts, which were converted into shares and freed the team completely of its debt.
He was loved and respected across football teams. As I was writing this article, I got the news that Watford FC and its fans paid their tribute by showing a huge banner- a banner thanking him for allowing lakhs and lakhs of people to dream, just as he allowed Leicester City fans to dream about their team winning the Premier League trophy, and making it a reality through his genuine encouragement and support.
Thus the legacy of Khun Vichai is not only that of a great non- playing football icon, but as a legend generous enough that he took care of not only the football club and the stadium, but also the city of Leicester, their residents and lakhs of ardent fans of the football team.
5 minutes into the match between Leicester City and Burnley after the tributes, a rainbow shows up across the stadium, symbolising he would always be there by the side of the team and will remain its Chairman, forever.
By G Siddharth
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