Happy Fox Posted 5 July 2011 Posted 5 July 2011 http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/245647/fans-may-get-a-taste-of-europe-finest King Power will try to bring Europe's top clubs to play in Thailand next year. King Power chairman and CEO Vichai Raksriaksorn said yesterday he would try to organise friendly matches featuring Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid and other top sides in Europe. Vichai, who is also chairman of English Championship side Leicester City, said the Foxes were well supported by local fans in their first season under King Power last term. Managed by former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, Vichai said Leicester's only aim in the coming season is making a return to the English Premier League. Leicester will play a pre-season friendly with Real Madrid at their King Power stadium on July 30 and it will be televised live on Channel 3 at 11.15pm, Vichai said.
ElbertTheFox Posted 5 July 2011 Posted 5 July 2011 We're obviously well backed by the Raksriaksorn's. If we can get out of this league, which by no means will be easy, then we are on to big things!
wellyfox Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Thai TV (no not the lady boy TV's) every game nxt season if we go up then. £££££££££££££££
One Arm Babba Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Has anybody seen the paper review on SSN this morning? I found it quite disappointing that one of the tabloids ran a whole page about Leicester losing their soul by the renaming of their stadium. I'm amazed that they run an article about this, can someone explain to me what we have done any different to other clubs. Take a look at Arsenal - their new ground being called the Emirates. Wigan - firstly was called the JJB stadium after his company. Changed to the DW stadium after him. Wolves - correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't moulinuex (spelling) named because of the electrical company? Reading - the madjeski stadium FFS!!! West ham - let's hope if they get the Olympic stadium that they change the name to the razzle den!
Len Finsbury Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Wolves - correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't moulinuex (spelling) named because of the electrical company? You're getting your Molineux mixed up with your Moulinex.
John Matrix Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 we lost our soul when filbert street disappeared. they must have been strapped for stuff to write about. either that or the author was a leeds/forest/derby/bristol city fan
accessory Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Has anybody seen the paper review on SSN this morning? I found it quite disappointing that one of the tabloids ran a whole page about Leicester losing their soul by the renaming of their stadium. I'm amazed that they run an article about this, can someone explain to me what we have done any different to other clubs. Take a look at Arsenal - their new ground being called the Emirates. Wigan - firstly was called the JJB stadium after his company. Changed to the DW stadium after him. It was Oliver Holt in the Mirror. Fans slowly ground down as clubs cash in on stadium naming SO the second wave of stadium-naming rights is beginning and the shame of what we have signed up for is starting to become apparent. I could live with the Walkers Stadium even if it was named after a bag of crisps. It was the name of Leicester City’s new arena and had been since they moved there from Filbert Street in 2002. But the club announced yesterday that from now on the Walkers Stadium will be known as King Power Stadium, after the Thai duty free company that owns it. The King Power Stadium. Savour that name. It sounds vaguely like a tribute to a male porn star. Next up, the Dirk Diggler Dome? Or Brian Pumper Plaza? Don’t rule it out. It’s a small step from here to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – often referred to locally as The Dick – the home of the Colorado Rapids. Because nothing’s sacred any more. Not when it comes to sport selling its soul and everyone looking the other way. Sure, some people can justify it with two words. The Money. Everything has a price. They just forget the cost. Leicester justified it in the usual manner yesterday. “The announcement of King Power’s further support to Leicester City is tremendous news and once again underlines the commitment the owners have made to the club,” Leicester’s chief executive Susan Whelan said. Yeah, right. The desecration of the club’s history and the loss of its dignity is tremendous news. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about everything being for sale. We are talking about commercialism out of control. For many of us, a huge part of being a fan of a club involves the association with the stadium. I know a lot of West Ham fans, for instance, who are dreading the move from Upton Park in 2013. The whole experience of supporting a team is inextricably bound up with the stadium the team plays in. For older fans in particular, it’s about where you sit, the architecture, the character of the place. It’s part of how you identify with a team. So if you defile the stadium by prostituting its name, you destroy part of the experience. You loosen even further the bond between team and supporter. We can just about justify The Emirates as the name for Arsenal’s ground now because it has been that way since they moved from Highbury. But what about when it becomes Pizza Hut Park in a few years’ time? Or Primark Park? Or something even more gaudy? Just suck it up, I suppose, and count the cash. There are plenty who mock traditionalists like me and insist as long as the club gets money for it, then the end justifies the means. That’s the stance most Chesterfield fans take over the fact that when they moved from Saltergate at the start of last season, they moved into a new home called the b2net Stadium. Who cares about the name, they said. The money they got from the stadium naming rights secured the club’s future and helped them gain promotion from League Two. Which is fine. But it misses the point. What happens when they have a bad year and find themselves back in League Two? They’re still going to be stuck with the b2net Stadium. They’re still going to be stuck with a name that makes it sound like they’re playing inside a giant computer. Some things should not be for sale in football and the stadium name is one of them. Put advertising on the shirts, put it on perimeter fences, paint it on the roof, use it on the hoardings, flash it up on the scoreboard. Isn’t that enough? Football managed without defiling the names of its stadia for more than a century but now, apparently, it can manage no more. If companies like King Power and b2net are so committed to clubs, why the need to visit these indignities on them? Why the need to humiliate them with this commercial tyranny? Is it impossible to respect a club’s heritage or its location? In January, I mentioned that even the Philadelphia subway stop serving the city’s sports stadia has been changed from Pattison Avenue to AT&T. For $5m from the telephone company, the city sold out. So good luck to the Leicester owners and the club’s board. Congratulations. You made a few quid. And in the process, you lost something you can never get back A cowardly piece by a hack who has visited (and been lavishly treated by) many other sporting venues both in the UK and abroad with similar sponsorship deals, yet feels the need to single us out. Maybe he feels that, as a lower-league club, we're not worthy of the same level of respect. Or is the nationality of our owners the real issue for him?
Swampdog Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 @ the mirror article above That article is a joke! i dont see how renaming the stadium from being named after one company to another is an issue. personally, i think once people get used to it then KP stadium wouldnt sound too bad at all.. The article to me seems like the guy has an issue with leicester, that last sentence sums up his true motives for the article. "So good luck to the Leicester owners and the club’s board. Congratulations. You made a few quid. And in the process, you lost something you can never get back" It sounds bitter.. somewhat like a personal dig at the club (does anyone get the feeling theres a lot of that going round now days?) The only people's opinions on this that matter are our own fans!!
Haydos Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 I know his name. I remember someone pointing me in the directions of his writing before because he's an absolute tool. Can't say I follow him but whenever I do read something by him the comments section is always filled with people thinking it's a god awful piece of writing.
samjohnson Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Yes, stadium naming rights shunts the history of football, but it opens a new door to the "future" - Something that most football fans are afraid of. Forest: "We won the European tin pot some 25-30 yrs back" - Look where they are now Leeds: "We almost won the same said European tin pot 10 yrs ago" - Ditto... Derby: "We were the champions of England" - Do i need say any more? Naming rights opens up extra revenue, and since the introduction of the ridiculous Bosman ruling, the money IS needed to keep players and buy them. I'll stop now before I right an essay on the topic, but you can see where I'm coming from
dave the caveman Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 I think most fans would prefer that the name of their stadium was given some historical relevance rather than being fully commercial, so in that sense he's right. But why he's picked Leicester I don't know. We sold our soul long ago when it was called the Walkers. He says we can never get that back when in fact it's actually quite likely that at some point in the future Walkers will be back involved. All in all a weak article that reeks of desperation to get something written. Maybe you could call it selling his soul to the gods of crap journalism in order to justify his own paycheck. People in glass houses...
leicesterseddon Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 It was Oliver Holt in the Mirror. Am I the only one here that thinks this guy is bang on? I think he's absolutely right to be honest. And the reason he's 'picked us out' is because we changed our stadium name yesterday, so it's news. He uses us as a way in to a discussion of the issue of naming rights in general, where he then discusses other clubs. The only thing I'd pick him up on is that he doesn't make a distinction between clubs like Arsenal (who didn't need to sell naming rights, but did so in order to become more competitive), and clubs in the lower leagues (like Chesterfield) who probably had no choice in the face of debt and spiralling costs.
Haydos Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Am I the only one here that thinks this guy is bang on? I think he's absolutely right to be honest. And the reason he's 'picked us out' is because we changed our stadium name yesterday, so it's news. He uses us as a way in to a discussion of the issue of naming rights in general, where he then discusses other clubs. The only thing I'd pick him up on is that he doesn't make a distinction between clubs like Arsenal (who didn't need to sell naming rights, but did so in order to become more competitive), and clubs in the lower leagues (like Chesterfield) who probably had no choice in the face of debt and spiralling costs. In sentiment he's right but in reality he couldn't be more out of touch. I don't know if it's naivety (i'd hope not as he seems to identify it) or stupidity, but football is a business no matter what each individual fan thinks about it. Our owners are effectively bankrolling are club and for that they want some return. They seem like good people but when it comes down to it it's all about them. We're just a shop window for them and they are covering us with their name so their company will grow both in stature and financially. It's not rocket science. To compare football nowadays with back in 'the good old days' is frankly ridiculous as well. I'm not even going to to bother talking about it there are so many differences. The article is a pile of shit. Not just with regards to the Leicester bashing, that doesn't really bother me, just that fact that this clueless moron doesn't seem to realise it's necessary for this to happen.
Alexikokopops Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Am I the only one who agrees with that article? We've gone from one corporate name to another, I don't see it as any history lost.
Jimmy Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Am I the only one who agrees with that article? if it was 9 years ago, or Filbert Street people would care but now, who gives a fvck?
FoxyPV Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Surely St James' Park @ sportdirect.com is far worse than the King Power stadium? or The Emirates? the DW stadium? the Britannia? I forgot we're not in the PL so anything we do is tacky and money grabbing. Twat.
Jimmy Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Surely St James' Park @ sportdirect.com is far worse than the King Power stadium? or The Emirates? the DW stadium? the Britannia? I forgot we're not in the PL so anything we do is tacky and money grabbing. Twat. neither were Newcastle but they get treated like a big club, to be fair they got ridiculed at the time
Guest MattP Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Totally agree with Holt as well, I'm amazed at the reaction of a lot of our fans to be honest, I just hope we dont go down the lines of Interwetten and end up being called "King Power FC" - I can see us being the test case for it eventually in this country and I dont even think a lot of our fans would even argue it as "if they put money in they can do what they want". I dont see how this gains us extra revenue either?? Surely whatever money top has planned to invest into the club isnt going to change because he has put his own company on the stadium? Does Newcastles ground being called "sports direct stadium" mean Ashley will plough more money into Newcastle? Of course not. I was slightly uncomfortable last year at the amount of King Power stuff in the ground, looked like something from the third reich the way they carried the flags around. and Holt is a legend for the way he confronted Ferdinand after the Champions league final.
Jimmy Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 stop acting like a twat they ain't going to do that and even if they tried that sort of sponsorship isn't allowed in FL/FA rules
Guest MattP Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 stop acting like a twat they ain't going to do that and even if they tried that sort of sponsorship isn't allowed in FL/FA rules I said last year it will be King Power stadium soon and filled with thier advertising. the response "stop acting like a twat they ain't going to do that and even if they tried people wouldnt let them"
Lillehamring Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 It seems a bit moot to be whining on about stadium name changes when we live in a world where everything is sponsored, maybe if his focus had been on the regular renaming of the FA cup every few years, i mean The FA cup WITH Budweiser, how shit is that. Everything from movies to music is associated with some brand or another, why get so sentimental and bitchy about stadium names. NO one cares, when you're in the ground you don't sit there blushing, thinking 'goodness, what must the away fans think', it's things like post goal music, all seater stadia and the tv companies screwing with the fixtures that has really sucked the soul out of the game - not to mention the disrespectful and commonplace cheating and lying by the players. poor form, but if you read the mirror that's probably what you should expect. there are plenty of great footy blogs if you really want to read someone else's perspective.
Matt Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 I've gotta say I cringed when Newcastle changed the name of their ground to St James Park @Sportsdirect.com and said they'd 'sold there soul' by renaming at 'selling out to advertising'. Now Leicester have done it have my thoughts changed? No, not really, however, I'm not really too bothered about the name change, and we already had an advertised name as our stadium anyway, now if we were still at Filbert Street and our current stadium was called Filbert Way and we had that changed for the sake of a sponsorship name then I might have a problem which is why I questioned Newcastle at the time. For example when/if Emirates ever pull out on Arsenal, their name will change, and any other club with a stadium name sponsorship for that matter.
Alexikokopops Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Totally agree with Holt as well, I'm amazed at the reaction of a lot of our fans to be honest, I just hope we dont go down the lines of Interwetten and end up being called "King Power FC" - I can see us being the test case for it eventually in this country and I dont even think a lot of our fans would even argue it as "if they put money in they can do what they want". We've gone from a corporation owned by Pepsico to one owned by some Thai chaps. I don't think of Walkers as some quaint local company who love our club which is why they've had an association with us for 25 years. I see them as a subsidiary of a multibillion pound company that got a ridiculously good deal on ten year naming rights because we were up the shitter. To me there's no difference between the two really. The article's about ten years too late. That, ultimately, is why I couldn't give a hoot what our stadium is called. As far as I'm concerned we sold out ten years ago, not two days ago. and Holt is a legend for the way he confronted Ferdinand after the Champions league final. I read things by journalists who were also there and it seemed there wasn't actually any real confrontation and Holt had exaggerated it in his account of things. Then again, I've always thought Holt a bit of a penis even before this article and before the Ferdinand incident so I could have a selective memory. I'm pretty sure I'm not making it up though. Who knows. I promise I'm not just disagreeing with you for the sake of it I'm just being cynical and grumpy.
The Year Of The Fox Posted 6 July 2011 Posted 6 July 2011 Don't like the leicester bashing, but we're not a liked club within the media unfortunately. Fans up and down the country, though will take the piss, will know its inevitable for most clubs.
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