LEICESTER’S future has been left shrouded in uncertainty as their Thai owners face a total business collapse.
Foxes chairman Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha left his role as chief executive of duty free giant King Power with the company staring at massive losses and potential failure.
Top has switched to being “group executive chairman” where he will “play an important role in determining the direction and setting the policy framework for business operations”.
But that adds to the club’s financial woes after their relegation from the Premier League and likely points deduction in the EFL next term.
Top, 39, took charge of the Foxes and the King Power company following the fatal helicopter crash that cost the lives of his father Khun Vichai – in charge of the club since 2010 – and four others as it left the stadium following a Prem draw with West Ham in 2018.
He bankrolled the club’s return to the Prem after their relegation in 2023 but watched as Ruud van Nistelrooy’s appointment as manager to succeed Steve Cooper in December failed to arrest an instant return to the EFL.
But the club’s on-field issues look to be paling into insignificance by comparison with the financial woes afflicting the King Power company.
King Power enjoyed a three decade near-monopoly on duty free concessions in Thailand but is aiming to completely renegotiate contracts at four of the country’s major airports, asking for all rental fees to be waived.
That is expected to lead to losses of £450m-plus for the state-run Airports of Thailand, which rejected the opening offer from King Power.
But in a signal of the depths of the crisis, Top’s replacement at the helm, Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, revealed: “It’s like a patient surviving on oxygen.
“The company’s intention was to ask AOT to remove the oxygen because we can’t cope anymore. This was the signal we sent.”
The admissions signal the depth of the cash-flow operations that threaten both King Power’s operations and its 7,000 employees.
He added: “We’re in a position where we’re saying we can’t manage, and we’re asking AOT for help.
“We’ll listen. If the conditions allow us to remain profitable, we’ll stay. If not, and we can’t make it work together, we’ll accept that.”
It comes with Leicester still expected to part company with van Nistelrooy following their relegation and the likelihood of a points deduction after a Prem Arbitration Tribunal ruled they can be charged and punished for a PSR breach for the 2023-24 promotion campaign.
Leicester have been approached for comment.
Read the full article here