My Tribute to LCFC by Dan Smith…
As readers will know I often like to write about non-Arsenal matters, keeping us up to date with what else is going on in the world. I couldn’t write about anymore trivial pieces without taking the time to send my love and prayers to anyone affected by what happened outside the King Power stadium on Saturday evening. Feel free in comments to pay your respect.
It was a weekend which put football into perspective and taught us how precious life is, how you never know what is around the corner. It is chilling to see videos on social media of 5 people walking to a helicopter, not realising they were taking their final breaths. People have since spoken about what a great owner Vichai Srivaddhanprabha was but really that’s irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if you were the most tight-fisted billionaire in the world, no human being should go through that. 5 individuals who all have families grieving.
The only blessing is apparently normally more members of the family fly back after matches in transportation which can hold up to 20 people. Some business people see the game as a smart brand to invest in, others view it as a toy, not worrying about what profit they make. Vichai did things for Leicester that he simply didn’t need to do. He would arrange schemes such as free drinks and tickets for supporters.
Despite living in Thailand, he made a point of being at most home games where he had a hands on approach with his employees. He made personal relationships with his dressing room, buying them cars, holidays and lavish nights out. His whole family wanted to create a family culture. It wasn’t just what he did for the Foxes but the city in general. He donated millions to local hospitals and charities.
In times like this, results in sport are not important. But the man’s legacy was always going to be winning the Premiership. It’s what he will want to be remembered for, his vision within 6 years was to bring Champions League football to the East Midlands, he did it in 4. It’s easy to forget he purchased them when they were in the Championship in financial trouble. He made thousands of dreams come true. Not even dreams, as Leicester fans would have assumed it’s too big for a club their size to think about. They often said it was a fairy tale, one you could make a movie out of.
Now you have a surreal ending, to an unlikely story, one never too be forgotten.
Dan Smith