RUNNING A SPORTS business in England, a couple of Thai nationals are virtually at extreme ends from each other, albeit evidently without conflict of interest in between. One is of all pride and joy whilst the other is of all gloom and anguish.
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the CEO of duty-free retail chain King Power Group, is sitting pretty as owner of English football club Leicester City which are almost certainly being promoted to the world-reputed English Premier League, the first tier of the English football system.
The Siamese Foxes which had been relegated from the English Premier League last season are being promoted to the top flight in automatic fashion, ranking top of the 24-team Championship, the second tier of the English football system, under Italian manager Enzo Maresca.
Aiyawatt, son of the late Leicester owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who was killed alongside four others in 2018’s helicopter crash outside King Power stadium, has been enormously confident of his Leicester players captained by English striker Jamie Vardy to whom several others would almost certainly be added when the Foxes jump back to back to the English Premier League.
Memories of the Siamese Foxes clinching the English Premier League title in the miraculous 2015/2016 season jubilantly lingered on among their faithful fans, many of whom would proudly wear their King Power T-shirts whilst attending home and away games.
In the meantime, Dejpon Chansiri, brother of the CEO of Thai Union Group, the world’s largest canned tuna producer, is obviously having a hard time tasked with make-or-break decisions for his English football club Sheffield Wednesday which are now on the brink of relegation from the Championship.
The Siamese Owls, captained by Scottish midfielder Barry Bannan, are only one point above the drop zone with only two games to play either to be at the relegated three-team bottom of the Championship table or barely safe from it.
Late last year and earlier this year, thousands of Sheffield Wednesday supporters had staged a mass protest with placards and banners outside and inside Hillsborough stadium lambasting the Thai owner whom they accused of lacking “spirit”, let alone investment, with his football team struggling for survival in the second tier.
“Dejpon Chansiri not Fit or Proper”, “Just Sell Up and Go” read some of the posters brandished by fervent Siamese Owls protesters whilst, at one instance, the embattled Dejpon who was seated among others in the 32,200-seat stadium during a home game looked silent and reserved in awe.
Dejpon who bought Sheffield Wednesday for 37.5 million pounds in 2015 had been time and again blamed by Owls fans for failing to invest enough to strengthen his club to the extent that they could stay comfortably in the Championship, let alone to ever return to the English Premier League, the top tier of which the Owls had not been part since the last 24 years.
Central to the Sheffield Wednesday fans’ persistent calls for the Thai owner’s financial investment was the blatant proposals for him to not only buy famous players from rival Championship clubs but those in the English Premier League clubs to add to the injury-stricken and relatively underperforming Owls players.
Nonetheless, many, if not most, of the Sheffield Wednesday supporters honestly believed German manager Danny Rohl could ultimately save the Owls from being relegated in the coming weeks.
The Thai owner is currently under pressure not only from the Owls supporters who are very likely to fill the 39,700-seat capacity at Hillsborough stadium to see tomorrow’s home game but from the Owls manager himself.
Rohl has looked quite anxious over Dejpon’s imminent decisions which may significantly affect his future at Sheffield Wednesday next season no matter if the Owls would finally stay in the Championship or drop to the League 1, the third tier of the English football system from where his club had been promoted in play-off games last season.
The German manager, who had previously joined coaching staff at Bundesliga soccer clubs Bayern Munich and Leipzig, was known to have been quietly approached by rival Championship clubs whose buyout efforts would almost certainly double if the Owls could be eventually saved from relegation.
Without Dejpon’s financial investment in club facilities and the Owls squad despite persistent demands from club supporters plus Rohl’s desperate calls for the owner’s assured direction upon the end of the season early next month, pressure would likely be mounted harder upon the Thai to sell off his happy-go-lucky stakes at one of the oldest English football clubs.
CAPTIONS:
Top: King Power Group CEO Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, left, and brother of Thai Union Group CEO Dejpon Chansiri, right. Left photo: Getty Images and published by Mail Online, right photo: Getty Images and published by YorkshireLive
First insert: Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha sits next to his father’s chair in the directors’ box. Photo: Getty Images and published by BBC
Second insert: Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri (centre) has been at the Yorkshire club since 2015. Photo: Rex Features and published by BBC
Third insert: Sheffield Wednesday’s German manager Dany Rohl. Photo: Getty Images and published by BBC
Front Page: Sheffield Wednesday celebrate promotion to Championship. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire and published by BBC
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