Foxes, Hillsborough: victories for the ‘little guy’

Your insight on how the underdog beat all the odds was moving. The amazing triumph of Leicester City will remain with us for ages. However, credit should also be given to the club’s Thai owner, Vichai Sirvaddhanaprabha. 

When Khun Vichai bought the club, it was a quaint British outfit that even Thai television announcers referred to as “Lee-ces-ter”. Now, we know it as “Les-ter” and the quaintness is gone. 

Second, the Srivaddhanaprabha family chose not to rely on buying star players in their quest for glory. In 2014 they had modest hopes of finishing in the top five, but never imagined the team could be champions. A year later they appointed the then unimpressive Italian coach Claudio Rainieri, who turned out to be the driving force that beat bookmakers’ odds of 5,000-to-1 to clinch the title this season. That feat is unlikely to occur again in our lifetimes. The headline in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper was conclusive: “How Leicester City’s quiet Thai owners turned the Foxes into the best team in country”.

As shown in your excellent graphic, the family’s efforts have been well compensated. Six years ago they invested 40 million pounds in the Foxes. In return they have reaped compound interest at 40 per cent per annum, and there is plenty more to come.

The underdog’s victory came almost immediately after the coroner’s definitive verdict on the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy, which saw 96 people killed and 766 injured in a stadium in Sheffield. The verdict – that police and authorities were at fault for allowing fans to enter an already overcrowded stand – put an end to a police cover-up that had lasted 27 years. 

These two almost simultaneous “victories” show that there is fair play, that sometimes money cannot buy success, and that authority cannot suppress truth forever. They show humanity at its best.

Songdej Praditsmanont