Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn, the leader of the Asia Football Investments consortium which recently purchased Leicester City, gave his first interview to the English media earlier this week. Raksriaksorn , whose family own the King Power Group, has been appointed Leicester City's Executive Director. He brought in former England and Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson to guide the team out of the lower reaches of the Championship.
There are also plans to set up a Leicester City academy in Thailand and the team played a friendly match in Bangkok last month. However it was the football fans in England who Raksriaksorn wanted to address in his interview with the Leicester City website,
“I think the club is great, great fans and great facilities and I feel compatible with all the other people here and I feel part of the team. I am an ambitious person, I always aim high and try to do everything to be a success and to achieve my goals. This is what I am hoping to bring to Leicester City,” he said.
Raksriaksorn also revealed that Leicester City actually gave him his first taste of live football back in 1997,
“Coincidentally the first game I saw at a stadium was the final of the Carling Cup between Leicester and Middlesbrough and it was good to watch at the stadium and not on TV. The first time I heard that Leicester City was being offered to us it was not difficult to make a decision because I know the team and I know the story and of course the team has been very successful,” he said.
Leicester City drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough in front of 70,000 fans at Wembley Stadium with Emile Heskey grabbing a dramatic equalizer in the last minute of extra time. They went on to win the replay 1-0 with another extra time goal, this time by Steve Claridge. Since then the team’s stock has fallen rapidly and they were languishing towards the foot of the Championship when the Asia Football Investments consortium took over.
On of the first decisions facing Leicester City's new Executive Director was whether to keep faith with existing manager Paulo Sousa. In the end Raksriaksorn opted to replace him with Eriksson in what he claims was a difficult choice,
“I was not easy to make the decision to change manager but the club has to move on. I wanted to make the best decision for the club and I wanted to do everything quickly because I could see that the side was not good. I had to find a better manager to be in charge of the team and I think Sven is the answer,” he said.
Eriksson is reported to be earning a seven figure salary at Leicester City and the expectation is that the hugely experience Swede will guide the team back to the top tier of English football. Raksriaksorn acknowledges that, while there is work to be done elsewhere, promotion is the priority,
“There are many things to do here on the commercial and marketing side and also with the fans but the first thing is to bring the team back to the Premiership. I think this is a tough league and every team tries hard to win the games but it is good to watch this league.” he said.
Raksriaksorn was anxious to assure supporters that the club was in safe hands and talked about his experience of working at King Power and of his love of football,
“I have been part of King Power since I was young because I always followed my Father everywhere and when he was working I would stay besides him so I learned a lot about business. After I graduated I also worked as an assistant to the CEO and it was a big experience for me to work with a successful man and a big company and this gave me a lot of experience of business. I love to watch the football have watched football all around the world, in Spain and Italy and, of course, England,” he said.
Whereas many football club owners are viewed as distant and aloof he is determined to learn more about the club and its fans,
“I want to meet more supporters if I can to hear what views they have about the club and if I can be a part of the community that would be great,” he said.
After being asked where his nickname, Top, came from Raksriaksorn ended the interview on a light hearted note,
“My parents nicknamed me Top and I hope I can bring Leicester City to the top!”
You can view the entire interview on the Leicester City website: here
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