Thai-owned Foxes set goal of EPL top five

The Foxes arrived in Thailand with their second-tier Championship trophy on Thursday, sharing their success with local fans. After a three-day stay in Phuket, they returned to the capital yesterday for a press conference at Pullman King Power hotel.

Open to fans – one of them holding a “We love LCFC” banner – the conference was a fun-filled affair as those gathered witnessed club chairman Vichai unveil the Championship trophy.

Vichai said Leicester’s promotion had vindicated his decision to buy a club outside the EPL. “I love football. I’ve been watching it since I was young. I had a chance to watch matches in England. I bought a VIP box at Chelsea and paid for adverts at the stadium, which at the time no Thai had ever done. I thought we should have an English club owned by Thais one day.

“After spending time studying many clubs, I fell in love with Leicester. One reason was the team’s colours, which were the same as my company’s.

“The other was the fact that they were playing in the second tier at the time. I thought if we bought an EPL club it wouldn’t be challenging enough. If we could lead this team to the EPL, that would be a real challenge.”

Vichai now is hoping to steer the Foxes to even greater heights. “We want to stay in the EPL as long as possible. But we won’t take the huge leap to challenge the league’s top five clubs immediately. Do we have a chance to beat them? Yes, we have, but I think we need to establish our foothold in the league first and then we think about our next step.

“It will take a huge amount of money, possibly Bt10 billion, to get there. But that doesn’t put us off. I am asking for three years, and we’ll be there,” said Vichai.

Manager Nigel Pearson, in his second spell in charge of the club, echoed the chairman’s sentiments, saying his players will not simply make up the numbers next season.

“We have to be adaptable when we play ‘big’ teams. But, the important thing is we’re going with a belief that we can achieve. I want to set high standards for ourselves. The next challenge for us as a club is to establish ourselves in the EPL.

“We’re not going to make up the numbers. We want to be competitive. We’ve tasted success now. It’s important we continue to improve everything about ourselves. So, we can challenge for the top five. But, of course, one step at the time. The boys are really looking forward to playing with some of the best teams in the world,” he said.