Leicester City are champions of the Premier League. It’s been two days since that’s happened but it is still quite difficult or even impossible to believe. The story of the team that defied odds of 5000/1 will be told and re-told for generations to come.
But what’s even more fascinating is what had happened two years ago. In 2014, Leicester’s owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha had made a promise to his fans, telling them they will become a force in the Premier League.
In an interview with Thai newspaper The Nation, he talked about the ambition he had for the club. "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.”
The Thai owner also admitted it would require a big investment but he was ready to make the sacrifice.”It will take a huge amount of money, possibly 10 billion Thai Baht (£180m), to get there. But that doesn't put us off. I am asking for three years and we'll be there.”
"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 Premier League. 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 a time. The boys are really looking forward to playing with some of the best teams in the world.”
Paddy Power tweeted about the owner’s statement in 2014, and cheekily dismissed his ambitions:
Of course, it wasn’t just them who thought it would be impossible, but what it did was give the owner an understanding of what the footballing world thought about his dream.
Now its Vichai who has the last laugh after seeing his dream become a reality. It is indeed quite an incredible story but more than proving his doubters wrong he will be thrilled with the fact that the club’s administration did so well to make his aim a possibility.
