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Leicester City’s Thai Vice Chair Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha insisted that "there was no secret" to the club's "miraculous rise", according to the AFP. Hundreds of blue-shirted Thai fans "watched Leicester’s 4-0 win over Swansea City live on big screens late into the night at an outdoor venue in Bangkok." Afterwards Srivaddhanaprabha, who is also CEO of Thailand’s King Power duty-free empire, said Leicester’s rise is "very good for football and for people who love sport." He said, "I play sport as well and I understand that inspiration from [striker Jamie] Vardy, inspiration from Leicester has inspired everyone in the world." His publicity-shy father Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha "owns the British club," but Aiyawatt "is hands on in running it as well as being the King Power CEO." The Foxes, or "Siamese Foxes," are now beginning to attract fans in Thailand, where ManU, Liverpool and Chelsea "traditionally command a strong following." Aiyawatt: "We have 600 people come to celebrate and enjoy to watch Leicester, the team that maybe seven years ago no one knew." The Srivaddhanaprabha family "have been widely praised for their judicious spending and appointments, which have taken Leicester to the top of the Premier League" (
AFP, 4/25).
DEBT COLLECTOR: In London, James Whaling reported Leicester City has been urged to pay a £16,000 ($23,160) bill "owed to the East Midlands Ambulance Service."
The Foxes "owed the money for work carried out on matchdays when they went into administration in 2002."
A place at "Europe's top table" is expected to net the club £100M, and it has now been urged to pay up as a "goodwill gesture."
A spokesperson for The Ambulance Service Charity said, "The ambulance service was forced to write off this money when Leicester City were facing financial difficulties." The ambulance NHS trust is currently £12M ($17.4M) in debt, and there is "no legal obligation for Leicester to pay the bill, which equates to a day's wages for Jamie Vardy" (
DAILY MIRROR, 4/25).
