How Vichai scored with Leicester

He was neither a star like Pele or Lionel Messi, nor a great football manager like Alex Ferguson or Bill Shankly. So the collective mourning across the world of English football is truly remarkable.
To add to the marvel, Vichai was a football club owner. People involved in football anywhere on the planet know what that means. There are few more thankless positions than owning a football club. If your team does well, it’s in spite of you. If they perform poorly, it’s because of you. Ask the Glazer family, which owns Manchester United and has constantly been accused of taking more than giving. Ask John W Henry, who owns Liverpool and was pilloried until recently when he decided to spend big on player purchases.
To add to the wonder, Vichai did not splash big money in the transfer market. He did not hand players the obscenely high salaries seen at Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. All he did was to arrive at the stadium to watch his team’s home games, a habit that eventually cost him his life. He was down-to-earth, approachable, friendly to everyone he met, and generous with donations for non-football development in his club’s hometown.
It is that last contribution that best explains the outpouring of grief and gratitude in Leicester, and in England in general. His team were no longer performing as they did in the fairy-tale season two years ago, but Vichai had already given the people of this East Midlands city far more than they expected of him. So far, this season has been disappointing for a club who were champions in 2016, but that didn’t matter. Vichai will be remembered there, always, for two things: the astonishing heights his 5,000-1 outsiders conquered, and supporting the English city outside the realm of football.
As a businessman back in Thailand, his career was not without controversy. But the flowers and memorabilia flooding the King Power Stadium prove that while he might have done some things wrong in his homeland, he must have done something very right in Leicester. The grief and emotion was written on the faces of foreigners who only knew him at a distance, but were touched by what he did for their community.
While Vichai’s name will forever be associated with football, his impact on Leicester serves as a great lesson for all businesspeople. They can decide to live without caring much for how they are thought of after they die, or they can choose to give something back, spontaneously and heartfelt, with little thought for public relations.
Make no mistake, the business mogul in Vichai must have had PR on his mind, even in Leicester. But business often fails to see how easily people can differentiate between image building and actions that come straight from the heart. After their title-winning season, Vichai made headlines for handing Leicester players expensive cars to show his gratitude – though in truth many club owners would have done something similar. Less reported upon was the anonymous resident of Leicester who was in tears when asked about the foreign club owner’s death in a helicopter crash.
The Leicester man had lost his wife and sons in a fire earlier this year. The Srivaddhanaprabha family supported the funeral and helped him through difficult times. “They have done good things for the community,” the man said of the club owner and his circle, as he choked back sobs. “They have been good to me. They have been supportive. They even gave me the hall for the wake. This is a big, big shock for me.”
To this Leicester local, it wouldn’t matter if Vichai’s club lost 10-0 this Saturday – or any other Saturday. To him, the name Srivaddhanaprabha transcends football.
Everyone who watched an English Premier League game last weekend also saw images of the Thai tycoon. The face that flashed across giant stadium screens could pass as that of kind-hearted uncle. Vichai infused his own values into how a football club should be managed, and did a few other things in the process.
Time will tell whether Vichai the Leicester City owner and Vichai the King Power chairman were the same character. But it’s already crystal clear which way of doing business leaves an ocean of flowers in your wake.