Leicester City started their League One campaign with a 1-1 draw at Notts County on Saturday – a few days after the club were put up for sale.
The Foxes have been owned by Thai retailers King Power since 2010 – six years later, they’d guided the club from the Championship to a remarkable Premier League title, one of the greatest fairytale stories in football history.
The death of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a helicopter crash at the stadium in 2018 was devastating for everyone involved in the club, though, and Leicester have now been relegated twice in two years under the stewardship of his son Aiyawatt.
Legend insists good times shouldn't be forgotten
The Foxes’ slide down the leagues has led to significant criticism of decisions made at the club in recent times, and that fan pressure has now led to King Power opting to put the club up for sale for £200m.
Former England striker Emile Heskey is a Leicester City legend who began his career at the club and is now head of football development for the club’s women’s sides. He expects that it could take a while for a sale to happen, based on how things have panned out at other clubs when owners have looked to find new buyers.
“I don’t think it will be reasonably soon, I’d say there will be a lot of protracted dealings to try to get that over the line, but I think we can’t take away from what the Thai family have done for us in Leicester, for us in football and us in the Premier League,” he told FourFourTwo.
“Leicester City and the owners made every club around the country believe that they had a chance – that you never know, it might happen.
“It’s gone a little bit sour, but they’ve done a fantastic job up to now. Whoever takes over has a wonderful foundation with training facilities, both men and women, stadium, and a decent squad to now springboard into something different.
“You can only take your hat off to them and thank them for what they’ve done, not only for the club but for the city as well.
“They’ve done some fantastic things at the hospital, children’s charities, they’ve done everything.”
While Heskey acknowledges that things have not gone well for the men’s team on the field in recent times, he’s sure that the owners have always tried their best to deliver success.
“They have, and they’ve done what they believed was right for the club,” he said, speaking in association with Premier League betting site BetWright.
“Yes, it’s gone a little bit sour, it’s gone a little bit left, but you can’t blame them because the reality is that with the financial fair play, they’ve overspent.
“You can’t say they didn’t spend. That’s one of the things that fans say at a lot of clubs – ‘We’re not spending’. But no, they have spent, they’ve overspent, to try to get out of the hole.
“They tried to do it the way that they believed was right – now we’re in a bit of a pickle, and it’s for someone else to probably take it to the next stage.”
