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Football

29th Oct 2018

Gary Lineker posts touching tribute to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha after helicopter crash

Gary Lineker has posted a touching message on his Instagram account after the death of Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha

Reuben Pinder

The club confirmed on Sunday night that Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in the helicopter crash on Saturday

Gary Lineker has paid tribute to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Leicester City chairman who tragically died in a helicopter crash outside the King Power on Saturday night.

Srivaddhanaprabha died alongside two members of his staff, the pilot and a passenger. Tributes from the Leicester squad, led by Kasper Schmeichel, have been pouring in since the confirmation of his death from both players and fans.

Writing on Instagram, Lineker described Srivaddhanaprabha as a “quiet, unassuming man who will always be remembered with great fondness and respect”.

He thanked Srivaddhanaprabha for his part in Leicester’s Premier League title-winning campaign, adding: “He also helped to bring the most magical, miraculous title win in the history of football.”

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Lineker was born in Leicester and began his playing career at the club, scoring 95 league goals in 145 matches for the Foxes.

His tribute comes after police confirmed that the five people aboard the aircraft were Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, two members of his staff, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpar and pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

In a statement on Twitter Sunday night, Leicester City said: “It is with the deepest regret and a collective broken heart that we confirm our Chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, was among those to have tragically lost their lives on Saturday evening when a helicopter carrying him and four other people crashed outside the King Power Stadium. None of the five people on-board survived.

“The primary thoughts of everyone at the Club are with the Srivaddhanaprabha family and the families of all those on-board at this time of unspeakable loss.

“In Khun Vichai, the world has lost a great man. A man of kindness, of generosity and a man whose life was defined by the love he devoted to his family and those he so successfully led. Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the Club that is now his legacy.”