'His death was a disaster for everyone who knew him - and for the club' Claudio Ranieri mourns Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha ten year after Leicester title triumph

Claudio Ranieri hopes that the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is watching on ten years on from Leicester City's Premier League title victory with a smile on his face to mark the anniversary.

Under Srivaddhanaprabha's stewardship, which began in 2010, Leicester went from the Championship to hoisting the Premier League trophy in 2016.

The Thai businessman tragically died in a helicopter crash outside the King Power Stadium in October 2018.

Claudio Ranieri: 'Vichai was an extraordinarily kind man - we always felt his presence'

Leicester's manager for that Premier League title win, Claudio Ranieri, believes that Srivaddhanaprabha's death was not only a personal tragedy, but also left the club far worse off for his absence.

The Foxes will play in League One next season having suffered a double relegation from the Premier League and the Championship.

Ranieri told FourFourTwo: "A truly painful moment was the death of Vichai, in that tragic helicopter crash in 2018.

"He was an extraordinarily kind man. I don’t know how he managed it, but we always felt his presence.

"He’d often come to see us with his wife, his sons and daughters. On my birthday, five minutes before training was about to begin, he walked into the dressing room with a cake covered in candles, and he got the whole team to sing to me.

"In Italy, doing something like that would be unimaginable."

"His death was a disaster for everyone who knew him, and of course for the club.

"Seeing Leicester now, struggling near the bottom of the Championship table, is very sad for those who lived through that incredible chapter of its history.

"I hope that from up there, wherever Vichai is watching us from, he’s happy about this anniversary."