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Happy Fox

Top Man and a Top Owner; Thanks Vichai and Aiyawatt

By Happy Fox, in Leicester City Forum

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Happy Fox

Happy Fox

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leicester-city/10805352/Respect-the-key-ingredient-under-Leicesters-new-Thai-owners-as-Srivaddhanaprabha-family-earn-fans-trust.html

 

 

 

Respect the key ingredient under Leicester's new Thai owners as Srivaddhanaprabha family earn fans' trust Exclusive interview: Promotion parade through city streets will be a special moment for Nigel Pearson, players, Foxes fans and owners - the Srivaddhanaprabha family
Srivaddhanaprabha_2900278b.jpg
Building bridges: Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (right) and his son have been praised for bringing back Nigel Pearson (left) Photo: ACTION IMAGES
 

7:35PM BST 02 May 2014

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The billionaire Thai family who own Leicester City have just spent $72 million on a jet, a Freestream G650, but the means of transport currently exciting them most is an open-top bus hired for the day.

Leicester's ongoing Premier League promotion party continues after Saturday's game with Doncaster Rovers, climaxing on Monday with a parade through the city streets. It will be a special moment for Nigel Pearson and his players, for Foxes fans and for the owners, the Srivaddhanaprabha family.

The Thais have pumped more than £120m into the club, earned praise by bringing Pearson back and then earned more kudos by keeping faith with him during a sticky period a year ago.

They have not meddled in team affairs, have respected the club's history, and when they brought Buddhist monks in to pray at the stadium re-named after their King Power duty-free business, they chose a quiet moment so as not to disrupt daily business or match-day operations.

Owners' motives are always questioned. Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the vice-chairman known as "Top", and his chairman father Vichai are not philanthropists. "As a businessman, investment has to be returned, of course, but in different ways," said Top, a short, neat individual with three mobiles beeping next to him. "If you invest to buy a hotel, you get a financial return in say 15-20 years. In football, the investment is the same but the return is different. Money-wise, no. In the future, maybe we will develop a Gareth Bale and sell him! Who knows!

 

"Now we get pride in return, pride to be an owner in the Premier League, pride we are the first Thai owners who built a team from the Championship to Premier League. We are proud that Thai people are proud of. That is something money cannot buy.

"My dad said to me: 'Now we are in the Premier League, I am so happy.' I told him: 'You are going to be the owner of a Premier League team, and there are only 20 teams in the Premier League, the top league in the world. People around the world are going to watch your team play at Old Trafford, everywhere. Be proud and enjoy it.' He always says: 'I am going to enjoy my life because you are going to take care of me. You are going to work hard.' He deserves that.

"In Thailand, we always respect the father and mother. But he listens to what I tell him. He says: 'I'm not always right but I have more experience and we can mix. The new world belongs to new generations but if mixed with experience it will be better.'

"My father keeps his feet on the ground. He's very humble. You can ask all the staff."

Is it possible to be a humble billionaire? "He will be the one. He always talks to the people, he can go everywhere, eat anything, because he built the business from nothing. It was not a family business before. He built it from zero by himself. He suffered before. He had no money before. He has money now and he is still the same.

"He loves football. I love football. Me and my dad are very close and we watched English football since I was six or seven, every team, every night that we could, ever week. I still love Eric Cantona. I love everything about him. I play football myself. I play upfront. I played in a staff game." Got a hat-trick.

Top and his family have been welcomed by Leicester supporters. "From the first day we owned the team, I felt that they are not against 'the foreign owner'. They tried to learn about the owner. I feel they respect the owner. We tried to give everything to the club. We give our hearts to the club."

He knows about the mistakes made by Vincent Tan at Cardiff City and Assem Allam at Hull City, about their failure to respect club tradition. "I heard. But it is difficult for me to criticise anyone because I am not the best. If the owner tries to make the team better the owner should be respected.

"The Premier League is very good but we will share some ideas about how we expect to expand more in terms of people who watch games. In management terms, we try to say that sometimes people who own the teams deserve a better response from everyone, not just from the Premier League, but from media, the fans, everyone. We are the investor. We deserve better service.

"I am OK. I don't say I expect anything. But if you ask me generally about Premier League owners, sometimes owners or people who are successful in business need privileges for themselves. Sometimes they need help about how they stay and work in the country to make them comfortable. I'm OK, I'm just saying for some owners."

He noted the Manchester United fans' dislike of the Glazers. "I saw that. It is funny because they try to build. For me, all the owners are successful businessmen who want success for their teams and they deserve respect. There is more respect in Thailand. The media is more respectful."

Was there enough respect in football, including players as well as supporters? "They are developing. Some have to be more respectful. Respect is a big part of the life of Thai people."

He promised never to tamper with Leicester's heritage. "Maybe it is because we are Thai. We have a lot of culture and history in Thailand. We respect our history and culture so we do the same here. We don't want to change the history or the culture of the club."

So Leicester won't switch to lucky red? "No. If you go into the directors' lounge, you can see the boards everywhere we put up about the history of the club, when we won the finals of the League Cup and when we were in finals of FA Cups a long time ago.

"We have the manager and players' hall of fame and the chairman board with the names of the ex-chairmen since the first day that the club was created. We appreciate history. We respect that this place didn't belong to us before. We come from outside the country and we are here to make the team successful.

"I always respect what they did here at Leicester but I will bring things from Thai culture, because we own the team. But we ask first: 'Is that OK?' Like the monks. Religion is very important in Thailand. Nobody here understood why we brought the monks. We believed in it. It didn't cost the club anything. We paid for the monks to come from Thailand.

"Many monks came but it was very, very private. I don't want to let them get involved in the match-day because it's not right. We follow the rules. If the monks show up on match-day, people might laugh. The monks came on an off-day, sat with us, saw the stadium and prayed. The monks wanted to come. They came because they said we had made Thailand proud.

"Everybody who comes to Thailand has to pass through the airport so everyone knows our King Power duty-free business. We always put Thailand behind it. We are proud to be Thai. The King of Thailand's adviser said to the King that my dad made people proud and they should give something back to him. The King's gift was a new last name for us. That is a very rare privilege."

Expediency dictates the prevalence of nicknames. "In Thailand, the full name is difficult and the last name is, well, forget it! Every Thai has a long surname so everyone has a nickname. Top is a nickname." An appropriate one given the way Leicester finish the season under Pearson.

"I brought Nigel back because I believed he would be the one who would bring the club back to the Premier League. I didn't know. I just felt it. I told him since the first day that I want Premier League football. I believe he will be a good manager in the Premier League with us."

A new contract for Pearson is being finalised. "There have been negotiations. There are many, many people involved in this but it is going to be sorted out very soon. On Saturday at the final whistle we celebrate everything, and then I'm going to sit down, talk to Nigel about how we are going to do in the Premier League, talk about budget for players.

"He chooses the players. I know he has plans already. He knows everything. We are quite close together. It's easier because of that. I respect him." Respect matters hugely for the Srivaddhanaprabha family.

 

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cc_star

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On Saturday at the final whistle we celebrate everything, and then I'm going to sit down, talk to Nigel about how we are going to do in the Premier League, talk about budget for players.

"He chooses the players. I know he has plans already. He knows everything. We are quite close together. It's easier because of that. I respect him." Respect matters hugely for the Srivaddhanaprabha family.

One of the key things for me.

With Nigel we can build on stability, if they wanted to bring someone else, then we add even more uncertainty into the mix.

Thankful they held the course last season when many wouldn't.

Good to hear Nigel has plans with us, makes a deal more likely if we come up with the good, (unlike with Dyer, whose been one of our best players Vs Premier League teams).

Keep it up Top but don't rest until Nigel's services are secured!

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ssilver80

ssilver80

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I for one will defiantly be given them a round of applause tomorrow for there support.

Anyone who buys a drink for 32.000 people deserves respect.

They may be Thai born and bred but they certainly know how to get a round in.

Top Man....(pardon the punt)

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davieG

davieG

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Proud.

No chance of a song for him with that surname though lol

Do you think we could learn this

 

At words poetic, I'm so pathetic 

That I always have found it best, 

Instead of getting 'em off my chest, 

To let 'em rest unexpressed, 

I hate parading my serenading 

As I'll probably miss a bar, 

But if this ditty is not so pretty 

At least it'll tell you 

How great you are. 

You're the top! 

You're the Coliseum. 

You're the top! 

You're the Louver Museum. 

You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss 

You're a Bendel bonnet, 

A Shakespeare's sonnet, 

You're Mickey Mouse. 

You're the Nile, 

You're the Tower of Pisa, 

You're the smile on the Mona Lisa 

I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop, 

But if, baby, I'm the bottom you're the top! 

Your words poetic are not pathetic. 

On the other hand, babe, you shine, 

And I can feel after every line 

A thrill divine 

Down my spine. 

Now gifted humans like Vincent Youmans 

Might think that your song is bad, 

But I got a notion 

I'll second the motion 

And this is what I'm going to add; 

You're the top! 

You're Mahatma Gandhi. 

You're the top! 

You're Napoleon Brandy. 

You're the purple light 

Of a summer night in Spain, 

You're the National Gallery 

You're Garbo's salary, 

You're cellophane. 

You're sublime, 

You're turkey dinner, 

You're the time, the time of a Derby winner 

I'm a toy balloon that’s fated soon to pop 

But if, baby, I'm the bottom, 

You're the top! 

You're the top! 

You're an arrow collar 

You're the top! 

You're a Coolidge dollar, 

You're the nimble tread 

Of the feet of Fred Astaire, 

You're an O'Neill drama, 

You're Whistler's mama! 

You're camembert. 

You're a rose, 

You're Inferno's Dante, 

You're the nose 

On the great Durante. 

I'm just in a way, 

As the French would say, "de trop". 

But if, baby, I'm the bottom, 

You're the top! 

You're the top! 

You're a dance in Bali. 

You're the top! 

You're a hot tamale. 

You're an angel, you, 

Simply too, too, too diveen, 

You're a Boticcelli, 

You're Keats, 

You're Shelly! 

You're Ovaltine! 

You're a boom, 

You're the dam at Boulder, 

You're the moon, 

Over Mae West's shoulder, 

I'm the nominee of the G.O.P. 

Or GOP! 

But if, baby, I'm the bottom, 

You're the top! 

You're the top! 

You're a Waldorf salad. 

You're the top! 

You're a Berlin ballad. 

You're the boats that glide 

On the sleepy Zuider Zee, 

You're an old Dutch master, 

You're Lady Astor, 

You're broccoli! 

You're romance, 

You're the steppes of Russia, 

You're the pants, on a Roxy usher, 

I'm a broken doll, a fol-de-rol, a blop, 

But if, baby, I'm the bottom, 

You're the top!

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Freeman's Wharfer

Freeman's Wharfer

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"I am OK. I don't say I expect anything. But if you ask me generally about Premier League owners, sometimes owners or people who are successful in business need privileges for themselves. Sometimes they need help about how they stay and work in the country to make them comfortable. I'm OK, I'm just saying for some owners."

 

This was a very interesting part of that for me.

 

Let's not forget we still don't really know why these guys own us. Yes, they've been great so far, they've respected the traditions, been very generous to the fans and shown faith in Pearson. But that still doesn't explain why some Thai guys randomly decided to buy Leicester City.

 

I think this sentence hints at it: "they need help about how they stay and work in the country". From that I would infer that they are looking to bring the King Power business to the UK and are looking for some privilege in terms of doing that through being the owners of a high profile football club. What exactly that privilege is I don't know but I'm sure being the owners of a Premier League football club will help open a few doors.

 

Edited to say: that's probably not anything we didn't already know/suspect but hopefully re-assuring that there's nothing too sinister in their intentions (hopefully)

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katieakita

katieakita

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This was a very interesting part of that for me.

 

Let's not forget we still don't really know why these guys own us. Yes, they've been great so far, they've respected the traditions, been very generous to the fans and shown faith in Pearson. But that still doesn't explain why some Thai guys randomly decided to buy Leicester City.

 

I think this sentence hints at it: "they need help about how they stay and work in the country". From that I would infer that they are looking to bring the King Power business to the UK and are looking for some privilege in terms of doing that through being the owners of a high profile football club. What exactly that privilege is I don't know but I'm sure being the owners of a Premier League football club will help open a few doors.

 

Edited to say: that's probably not anything we didn't already know/suspect but hopefully re-assuring that there's nothing too sinister in their intentions (hopefully)

 

 

We are so so lucky to have these guys and what they have brought to the club. Always a strange one as to why someone should fall in love with Leicester? We do not have a problem with the likes of the Birch,Walshy,Izzet and plenty of other ex players making this place their own. we even had a King fall in love with the place! What mistakes they have made they have really paid for and their mistake was to try and buy promotion and hasn' that cost them. All the messages coming out of the club are positive and we are set up for the premiership.

 

Think we underestimate how much premiership football means for the King Power brand as well. Couldn't think of better owners for the club and i hope they get a great reception at te game and hope they stay around for monday.  

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cjslcfc

cjslcfc

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Beautiful. Nice article. Made me happy.

 

toppy2.gifknock.gifwas2.gifkingy.gifnuge.gifdrinky.gif  vardy.gif

 

Is it just me that has a different sound playing in my head for each one of these?

 

In the audible version I've got going on I'm imagining knocky with a creepy pervy french "mmmmhhhmmmmm" and Vardy's party horn is doing my head in!

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