Thai fans mobbed newly crowned English Premier League champions Leicester City as they arrived yesterday for a publicity blitz after their fairytale title triumph.
They also hoped to banish the memory of a sex tape scandal that marred a visit a year ago to the homeland of their billionaire owner.
Scores of fans — dubbed the “Siamese Foxes” — and a frenzied local media pack swarmed the champions at Bangkok’s main airport yesterday morning, greeting them with requests for selfies and chants of “Leicester City, Leicester City.”
Manager Claudio Ranieri, captain Wes Morgan, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and forward Shinji Okazaki led the team, beaming as they made a choreographed Thai greeting — or wai — with garlands of jasmine around their necks.
However, star players Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Danny Drinkwater were not among the arrivals, with the two English players called up this week for international duty.
Soccer-mad Thailand has fallen for Leicester after the astonishing success story of a club with deep links to the kingdom.
The Foxes are owned by well-connected, but publicity-shy Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.
His King Power brand is emblazoned across the shirts of the team, whose home ground in the English Midlands is named the King Power Stadium.
The devout Vichai has also repeatedly flown Buddhist monks to the UK to bless the players and stadium.
Most Thais knew little about the one-time minnows before Vichai bought the club in 2010.
However, Thais are readily changing — or at least doubling-up — their allegiances from perennial English favorites Manchester United and Liverpool, in step with Leicester’s stunning rise.
“Now I’m half Liverpool, half Leicester,” Max Akkhapracha, a 20-year-old student dressed in Foxes’ kit. “It was a very exciting season, winning the Premier League was just amazing.”
Ahead of the tour, club vice-chairman Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, Vichai’s son, warned his players to be on their best behavior in a kingdom whose wild nightlife belies a deep-seated social conservatism.
A tour last summer ended in a public relations disaster for the King Power family.
Then, three young players, including the son of former manager Nigel Pearson, were fired after a racially charged sex tape featuring local women was leaked to British media.
Pearson was quietly dismissed a few weeks later in an apparent dispute over his handling of the scandal, paving the way for the avuncular Ranieri to take charge and steer the club toward sporting glory.
“They [the players] are massive now and they want to say thank you to the Thai fans,” Top recently told reporters.
“The players need privacy as well, but I’ve talked to them and they know they need to treat everything well,” he said.
Leicester were 5,000-1 outsiders to win the title at the start of their campaign.
The team will have two days of press and publicity duties in Thailand as they continue to celebrate league victory.
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