Thread by @mannyyylfc

A view from a Thai football fan on the passing of @LCFC ‘s chairman. This thread is dedicated to him. R.I.P.

As a fellow coutrymen, I want to tell the world about how inspirational Vichai was. A story from his own son, Aiyawatt. A story about him and Leicester City FC.

Let’s start with his business. Vichai owns Thailand’s biggest Duty Free stores, King Power. His success saw him moved up the ranks of our country’s list of wealthiest people.

Vichai was always a fan of the PL. He was a huge fan of Chelsea football club. Up until an incident in 2005. Prior to that, he was a regular at the VIP box at Stamford Bridge. As one of the wealthiest person in Thailand, flying regularly to the game was not an issue.

Apart from his frequent appearances at the Bridge. He also supported #CFC by spending on an advertisement board. Some may have seen the King Power logo at the bridge during the early 2000s. This shows his passion to English football.

However, in 2005, a CL home game (opponent not mentioned) the security at the bridge was more strict than usual. They treated him poorly, a scanner almost hitting Vichai’s face in the process. He was unhappy and it almost went bizarre until his son had to take him away.

He was extremely disappointed in #CFC and how they treated a sponsor and a regular VIP ticket buyer in such manner. Especially when the club did nothing about it. So much so that he submitted letters to the club and no real actions were taken.

Vichai then decided he no longer wants anything to do with Chelsea. No sponsorship, no tickets. He also told his son this,

“One day, we will buy a football team that will be able to beat Chelsea.”

Everyone thought it was a joke, Vichai didn’t.

In 2007, King Power approached Reading, who was in the PL that season. John Madejski was the owner then. He wasn’t interested in Vichai’s offer and said “If you have no experience in the Football industry, it’s best if you stay out of it, you won’t be successful.”

3 years and many football clubs contacts later, Leicester City approached King Power if they could be their sponsor. So they flew over to discuss. Only then, something in Vichai’s gut told him that there’s something special within this club.

He had his son study Leicester and analyse their potential. Incidentally, their family once watch the game back in 1997 in a league cup final at Wembley. But Leicester were far from successful ever since. So they didn’t believe in getting anything from the sponsorship deal.

But Vichai liked LCFC, with the colors and other things. So the first question he asked the then owner, Milan Mandaric, in their meeting was

“Are you interested in selling your football club?”

“Yes” was the response. Mandaric bought #LCFC for 25m and sold to Vichai for 40m.

Something in his guts told him to make the move. They started poorly as they lost in the opening game of the season 3-2 to Crystal Palace. They later finalised the deal in August 2010. Leaving doubts in his son’s mind.

“We must be successful.” He told his son.

They spent 3 years to fix backdoor issues here and there until LCFC reached the playoffs in 2013, their only chance to make it to the PL. The game where they painfully lost to Watford by a 90+7 min Troy Denee’s goal. Disqualifying them on an aggregate.

The whole football club was in shock, the morale was at its lowest point. Vichai’s son was extremely upset until his father said to him.

“This is life. It’s good that it’s difficult. So we know what it’s like to fail.”

The club took that loss as a lesson.

Unsurprisingly, the 13/14 season saw Leicester won the Championship. No playoffs required. Moving them to the world’s most competitive football league, the PL. During their Championship celebration, Vichai told the team.

“Our plan is to be in the top 4 and reach CL in 3 years.”

Majority of the players and staffs had a laugh about it. How could this be possible?

2 years later, we all know what happened.

Funnily enough, during the 15/16 season where LCFC won the league. The final game of the season was an away game. Traditionally, the host will have to do the Guard of Honour.

Guess where the game was at? Stamford Bridge.

11 years from the day Vichai said he will buy a football team and compete with Chelsea. He was successful and in such style that noone could ever repeat this magical history.

In addition to his success, he donated millions to the community of Leicester. We could see why he’s literally the only owner in the Prem that is loved by their whole fanbase. He also does run many charities and donations in Thailand with King Power.

Many foreign owners buy teams for financial reasons. Making fans hate them in the process. Vichai however, wasn’t one of them.

An inspirational character to many. A leader, a boss, an owner, a friend and a father that will long live in people’s minds. R.I.P.

I’d like to thank you all for spreading out. I want to first declare that I translated these contents from an FB post here.

facebook.com/17631933705625…

The writer of the post got the story from the book “The fairy tale of Underfox.” Was written based on an inteview with Aiyawatt.

To add more sadness to this story. A photo of their whole family tributing their father/husband was just released. Its awful.