For Khun Vichai

To mark the fifth anniversary of the passing of Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, we asked our writers what they imagined Vichai would think about the club five years on and how his legacy has been sustained.

Iain Wright

What would Vichai think now? It's such a tough question as I don't feel worthy of assuming what he'd make of Leicester City Football Club five years after his tragic death.

Therefore, I'll start with how I feel about Vichai.

I wasn't fortunate enough to meet the great man, but five years on, I can honestly say that he still holds a special place in mine and my family’s hearts. I’ve got a picture of him, with the words to Vichai had a dream, on a wall in my house and I think I look at him everyday, mainly with a smile, sometimes like on this anniversary with real sadness.

Losing him, along with Eric Swaffer, Izabela Lechowicz, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, was so shocking and heartbreaking, that I doubt we'll ever fully complete the grieving process. For some, that statement about somebody I'd never met may seem a bit strange, but Vichai and his family made the impossible possible and delivered the greatest decade in our history, so for that I'll be forever grateful. His impact also goes well beyond the club and into the city and county too.

My thoughts on his thoughts now? Well, I think he'd have been very proud of the FA Cup win as that was always part of the dream. I'm sure he'd have beamed with pride at how Top replicated his walk among the fans in Bruges with his own walk in Eindhoven. And I'm sure he'd look out of the window at Seagrave with a sense of legacy as the players train at the incredible facility he envisaged.

There's a perceived wisdom that he'd have reacted sooner to remove Brendan Rodgers last season, but I'm not sure on that one. Don't forget: he gave Nigel Pearson more time in February 2015 when just about everyone felt Pearson’s time was up - which obviously turned out to be the right decision at that moment.

Ultimately, as the winner he was, he wouldn't have been happy with relegation. But he can look down on the club now, on this anniversary, with the knowledge that Top and his team have steadied the ship and installed a manager and squad who once again fit with Vichai's dream.

Thoughts are with Top, his family and the families of Eric Swaffer, Izabela Lechowicz, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare.

Adam Hodges

When Vichai took ownership of Leicester City in 2011, he set the aim of being in Europe within five years. His lofty ambitions were sneered at but he made the impossible possible with that dream 2015/16 season.

At the time I considered what Khun Vichai would see as the legacy of that title win and saw that it would be consistent European football.

Maybe not season after season of Champions League quarter-finals but being in and around the Europa League spots and contesting for domestic competitions.

Khun Vichai was a shrewd businessman and would make tactical business decisions, not clouded with sentimentality. He pulled the plug on Claudio Ranieri less than 12 months after Andrea Bocelli serenaded the King Power.

Yet the ruthlessness of Vichai seemingly isn't found in Top, and the chairman decided to show loyalty to Brendan Rodgers despite the manager openly criticising the club's unwillingness to have a squad "reset". He kept Rodgers in the job for far too long.

This is not to say Top doesn't want the club to progress - far from it. We have a new training ground and plans to develop the King Power which is showing its 20 years.

Now we have a new manager who is bringing a new sense of confidence to the team and the fans. I feel Khun Vichai would have been proud of his son in hiring such a visionary as Enzo Maresca. Top of the tree in the Championship and heading straight back up. Is Maresca the man to bring European nights back to the King Power? It’s early to say and we will do well to keep hold of the Italian - but let's enjoy the here and now.

So what would Vichai think of the last five years at Leicester since his tragic death? After first seeing us in the 1997 League Cup final, he would have known that following Leicester is a rollercoaster. We've had highs, we’ve had lows and he’d enjoy that we’re now, hopefully, on the way back up.

David Bevan

This anniversary comes at a time when the club feels more united than it has for a very long while and that unity is reminiscent of what it often felt like under Vichai’s ownership. It wasn’t always plain sailing, but I don’t think it’s revisionist to say there was a general undercurrent among the fanbase of feeling confident in his judgment and assured that he was in charge.

We lost that feeling last year and it felt disorientating. It didn’t feel like the Leicester that we’d grown to appreciate and instead of plain sailing we were cast adrift for a year or two.

What would Vichai think now? I think the overwhelming sense would be one of pride - Top was only 33 years old when his father died and he took over as chairman of the club. So, accounting for the ups and downs of football, even to continue to want to do the job and carry on his father’s work is, to me, pretty remarkable in itself.

It’s also easy to romanticise everything but Vichai wouldn’t have been who he was without being a bit of a hard-nosed businessman. For Leicester fans, that meant being ruthless in big decisions like sacking managers and keeping hold of players if valuations weren’t met - but I think it also means he would appreciate someone like Enzo Maresca being given custodianship of the team. We’ve already seen Enzo isn’t the kind to mince his words or mess around for too long if something clearly isn’t working.

More than anything, Vichai would appreciate that Enzo and the team are giving us the kind of moments he himself relished.

So this is another short tribute to him, five years on.

Just something small to show that we’ll never forget his contribution to our football club, the city and the county.