DESTINY in Foxes hands: Aiyawatt;Leicester to catch Thai talent through Television show
With only six Premier League games remaining, Leicester City Football Club vice president Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha believes his team needs to rely on themselves if they are to secure their first topflight title.
To complete their remarkable season the east Midlands club had to focus on themselves and take one game at a time starting with the away fixture against Sunderland, he said. “There’re only six games remaining, each one is important. We’ll focus on each game. We’re at a stage in the season where we canฌnot rely on others but our own desฌtiny. It’s now in our hands.”
Should Leicester, who have widened the gap at the top of the table to seven points over Tottenham Hotspur, do win the league title, Aiyawatt promised he would bring the team to the country.
“The [Leicester] players know we have a lot of supporters over here so they want to come to the counฌtry. But, I’ll bring the team here only if we win the title. But it would not be for a game. They will be here for relaxing after a long season. I don’t want to see Leicester play against a Thai side since whoever wins it would not feel good.”
Aiyawatt also offered to help preฌpare youngsters for the national team in future. He has already conducted the Leicester City International Football Academy season 1, where 16 teenagers were picked and are curฌrently training at the team’s acadeฌmy in the United Kingdom.
“When my father [Vichai] bought the team, we set the goal that Thai players should be involved with UK football team. That’s why we created the Leicester City International Football Academy with the hope that these youngsters will be assets to the national team in future,” Aiyawatt said.
Aiyawattt, who made a rare visit to the country by a private jet right after Leicester scored a 10 victory over Southampton at home on Sunday, said King Power will join hands with Workpoint Entertainment to produce a new TV reality show called “Goal”. The show will pick talented Thai footballers for the Leicester City International Academy Season 2.
The selected players will receive Bt15 million scholarship for a two and halfyeartraining at the English Premier League team’s academy in Leicester where they will also attend highschool during the term.
“This TV show serves as another channel to select a youngster for our Leicester City International Academy season 2. The chosen one along with nine others from the other selection programme will receive intensive training at the proฌfessional level at the Leicester Academy for two and a half years,” said Aiyawatt.
Players under 15 can apply for the TV show in four regions: the south between April 2324 at the Surat Thani City Stadium, the north between April 30 – May 1 at the Chiang Mai 700th Anniversary Stadium, the north east between May 78 at the His Majesty the King's 80th Anniversary Birthday Anniversary Stadium and the cenฌtral between May 1415 at the Rajamangala National Stadium.
National coach Kiatisak Senamuang will be the head of the scouting team while TV stars Somchai Kemklad and Boriboon Jarueng will be the team manager and assistant manager in the TV show and all of them will select the winner by the end of October.
“All you young players have to bring along is a pair of boots and your soccer skills. This is a great opportunity in life to receive trainฌing at a wellestablished academy. It’s a chance to gain experience and prepare yourself in becoming a good soccer player,” said Kiatisak.
The first episode of “Goal” will start on August 7 between 5pm6pm on Workpoint TV while other episodes will run every Sunday at the same time. Further details can be had on https://www.facebook.com/goalthailandtv.
