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Just one day after their Premier League victory parade through the city centre, the Leicester City squad have arrived in Thailand for further celebrations in the home nation of the club’s owners.
The players were mobbed as they arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, where Kasper Schmeichel, Claudio Ranieri and Shinji Okazaki greeted fans with a traditional Thai ‘wai’ gesture.
Captain Wes Morgan, left back Christian Fuchs and other members of the squad looked in good spirits ahead of the celebrations.
While a brass band performed Queen hit ‘We Are the Champions’, Thai dancers gave a special performance to greet the newly crowned Premier League champions.
Leicester will spend a week in Thailand and have made a number of visits since Chairman and Vice Chairman Vichai and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and King Power International took control of the Club six years ago.
‘We’ve had some special receptions when we’ve arrived in Thailand in the past, but nothing like this. This is incredible,’ Morgan told the club’s official website.
We’re always extremely proud to come here and we know how much it means to the owners, who have done so much for us and for the entire club in the last six years.
‘Since we won the title, we’ve been trying to take it all in and try to get some perspective on what it means to us and to other people. After the scenes in the streets of Leicester on Monday and this reception we’ve had today, it’s starting to sink in. The impact is just frightening.’
Not all of Leicester’s title-winning squad made the trip to Asia with England striker Jamie Vardy and France midfielder N’Golo Kante now gearing up for Euro 2016 this summer. Riyad Mahrez is also missing the visit.
Leicester right back Danny Simpson shared a picture via his Instagram account captioned ‘We’re off’ as he sat on the plane next to his team-mate Jeffrey Schlupp.
Danny Simpson was a key player for the Foxes’ in their unlikely title glory as part of a back four that was breached only 36 times in 35 games.
After being named as 5000/1 outsiders before the season had started, Leicester took momentum from their incredible relegation escape under Nigel Pearson into the new season as the Foxes lost only once – 5-2 to Arsenal – by October.
But it was from then on where Leicester, with Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez the main duo in front of goal, hit their higher gear. Eight wins from their next 10 games saw the Foxes two points clear at the top of the table by Christmas.
Still sat at the summit of the league by February, Ranieri’s men looked unbeatable after earning a 3-1 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad. Despite a late Danny Welbeck winner at the Emirates inflicting only their third loss of the season, it was their rivals crumbling under the pressure and not Leicester.
