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ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP HORROR AS LEICESTER CITY MARKS DARKEST DAY

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Even though it has not been officially confirmed, there are growing fears that former English Premiership champions, Leicester City may have lost its owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in Saturday night’s helicopter crash.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha waves to fans after a Premier League clash between Leicester City and Southampton in April 2016. He was at the game but it is unclear whether he was on board the helicopter

Daily Mail reports that tearful Leicester City fans have gathered to lay flowers at the King Power Stadium this Sunday after reports the club’s owner was on board a helicopter which crashed and burst into flames last night.

The helicopter – feared to have been carrying popular owner and two pilots crashed in the corner of a car park moments after taking off from the centre circle after a Premier League game last night.

 

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Early reports said Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s daughter was on board with him at the time, although sources at Leicester FC have since denied this. The BBC has reported that a family source said the owner himself was on board.

Fans who gathered at the ground this morning called it Leicester’s ‘darkest day’, paying tribute to the owner who helped them to a miracle Premier League triumph in 2016.

Police have yet to comment on the condition of Mr Srivaddhanaprahba, 60, who has four children. With fans waiting desperately for news police said this afternoon they were ‘working with a number of other agencies’ to release a statement.

Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter was heading for Luton Airport where he was due to catch a flight to Thailand, Leicester sources said today.

Witnesses have said the ‘engine stopped’ in the air before the helicopter plummeted to the ground at around 8.45pm.

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Outside the stadium today a sea of flowers and blue football scarves has grown as fans wait anxiously for news on the helicopter disaster.

Fans have returned to the stadium from miles around to pay tribute to those who may have been killed in the crash. Police are yet to confirmed whether or not those on board have died.

Karen Kennell, 60, a primary school teacher from Leicester, said: ‘I was at the game yesterday and I was at home when I heard the news just after half past eight.

‘He’s contributed so much to the club and the city, when he first came they were in dire straits and he brought them back up to what they are today.

‘Not so long I managed to shake his hand, he and the other members of the management team were in the club shop just shaking hands with people, that was just something that they did – it’s so so sad.’

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Lifelong fan Tom Fall,53, a civil servant from Leicester said: ‘I was at yesterday game and I heard about it when I got home, it takes me about half an hour to get home and I was just getting something to eat.

‘I sat down and looked at the fans forum and someone had posted that the helicopter had crashed, I could not believe it.

‘OK so he was a businessman and many people like him take over clubs and would be quite aloof but its not been the case with him – he developed a real connection with the fans and the community and it’s ultimately led to us winning the league.

‘He’s left a permanent mark on the whole city not just the club. If he hadn’t come we would not have had so much success.

‘The way he’s managed things has led to a family atmosphere and people come to enjoy the family atmosphere at the club. I shook his hand in the club shop before the start of the game against Seville, in a pre-season friendly.’

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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