Leicester city FC is mourning the death of its 61-year-old club owner in a helicopter crash outside the King Power Stadium on Saturday.  The Crash occurred as he was leaving the Leicester City- West Ham game.

Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s helicopter was scheduled to fly back to his native Thailand, but a reported mechanical failure caused it to crash. He was flying with two pilots and two personal assistants.

As the world pays tribute to the billionaire magnate, here are 7 things you must know about him

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha bought Leicester City in 2010 for £39m when it was in English football’s second tier.

He turned the club around, cleared their debts, four years later they beat odds of 5000-1 to claim the Premier League title in 2015-16  season- its one of the greatest sporting stories of all time

https://twitter.com/AndyKingy/status/1056669425250811904

Jet set lifestyle –

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha would fly up for Leicester’s home games in his helicopter from his property in London – or his other house in Berkshire, where he kept his horses – then return the same way.

He enjoys a £200 bottle of St Emilion red wine before each game. When Leicester won promotion to the Premier League, he invited the squad for a meal of caviar and fine wine in an upmarket West London restaurant and picked up the bill. He even gave each player and staff member a £1,000 chip to gamble at a private members’ club nearby

He is Buddhist and prays with the monks-

Srivaddhanaprabha would fly over Thai Buddhist monks to bless the players before games to bring the team good luck..(am sure they must have been thoroughly amused)

Big on Philanthropy-

His family donated $2.5 million towards the building of a new children’s hospital in the city. During his birthday, he surprised thousands of Leicester fans with free teddies, beers & doughnuts.

When Leicester City’s  made it into champions league, he gave the first team of 19 players brand new £105,000 BMW i8 cars – (Just a gift for winning)

His Net-worth

According to Forbes, he is worth $4.9 BN, Srivaddhanaprabha was Chairman of duty-free company King Power International Group. He is ranked #388 on the world’s rich list and is the fifth richest man in Thailand- duty free stores are travel retailers . He enjoys monopoly of duty free sales across airports in Thailand

His personal life is set to private

He rarely gives interviews, the company itself is a very secretive company. Not a lot is known about him. He founded the company in 1989 and achieved very quick wealth.”  he has four children, all of whom had been involved in the King Power Company, his wife is vice president of the company

Wines, gambling and horses –

“He loved living in the UK and loved the lifestyle his enormous wealth could bring, “He was a great connoisseur of fine wines..

Friends with the British royalty-

“He was often seen with British royalty, taking part with his sons in polo contests. He really adored the high life of elite society in Britain.”

He enjoyed Polo

He  spent £2.05 million ($2.5 million) on six horses in a bid for success at Royal Ascot.

He also has around 150 polo ponies. He’s had huge success with Leicester City and now he’s looking to expand his racing interests here.”

May his soul rest in perfect peace