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MALTATODAY 7 November 2018

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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 NOVEMBER 2018 21 SPORTS FOOTBALL SPORTS FOOTBALL THERE was "minimal chance" for any- one to survive a helicopter crash outside Leicester City's stadium in which five people died, an inquest heard yesterday. Club owner Vichai Srivaddhanap- rabha died alongside four others when the aircraft came down shortly after a match on the 27th of October. Detective Chief Superintendent David Sandall told the inquest an intense fire stopped anyone getting in or out of the cabin. He said CCTV footage showed the helicopter "spinning out of control". Coroner Catherine Mason heard San- dall, of Leicestershire Police, was the senior identification manager. Sandall confirmed the victims had been scientifically identified and added: "CCTV shows the five victims in the tunnel at Leicester City football ground. Mobile phone footage showed the heli- copter spinning out of control before descending to the crash site." Adjourning the inquest, Mason said: "You have detailed to me that the fi- nal cause of death is pending subject to tests. Therefore I am not in a position to continue with the inquest at this time." A date for the inquest's resumption has not been set. Many players and staff have returned to the UK after attending the start of Vi- chai's funeral in Thailand. The billionaire bought Leicester City in 2010, and his guidance and invest- ment is credited with helping the club win promotion in 2014 and then the Premier League title in 2016. A number of players, including club captain Wes Morgan, striker Jamie Var- dy and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, have spoken of the huge impact the Thai billionaire had on them and the club. Thousands of tributes have been left outside the King Power Stadium and both physical and online books of con- dolence have opened. Vichai routinely flew from the stadium after matches and the helicopter came down less than a minute after taking off following a 1-1 draw with West Ham. Two members of Vichai's staff – Kave- porn Punpare and Nusara Suknamai – pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabe- la Roza Lechowicz, also a qualified pilot, were also killed in the crash. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is conducting an inves- tigation into the cause of the crash hav- ing taken the wreckage to a facility in Farnborough, Hampshire. The AAIB has confirmed contents of the digital flight recorder survived the post-crash fire. 'Minimal chance' of survival for five passengers on board Leicester FC owner helicopter crash: MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola has defended the Premier League champions as 'incredibly professional' in re- sponse to allegations they bent financial fair play rules. Abu Dhabi-owned City said last week they would not com- ment on "out of context ma- terials purported to have been hacked or stolen from City Foot- ball Group and Manchester City personnel and associated peo- ple." They spoke also of an "organ- ised and clear" attempt to dam- age their reputation. Asked about the 'Football leaks' documents, which have been published widely in the media, Guardiola told reporters yester- day ahead of City's Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk that he had faith in the club. "What I can say personally is, of course I trust a lot with the club and what they have done. And of course we want to follow the rules, whether UEFA, FIFA or the Premier League," said the Spaniard, who joined City in 2016. "They do what we have to do. Believe me, I am completely honest. I don't know what hap- pened because I am a manager. I am focused on what happened on the pitch, in the locker room. About the business, about how they handled this kind of situ- ation, I am completely out (of that). But I am part of the club and support the club absolutely and we want to do what we have to do in terms of the rules." The "Football Leaks" docu- ments, which include e-mails, contracts and presentations, were obtained by German publi- cation Der Spiegel and reviewed by Reuters in partnership with international media consortium European Investigative Collabo- rations. The cache, which spans much of the past 10 years, includes previously undisclosed details of UEFA's investigation of the fi- nancial affairs of City and Qatar- owned Paris St Germain. Under UEFA's "Financial Fair Play" rules, clubs must be transparent about revenues and broadly balance them against ex- penditure. The allegations against City, who have a number of promi- nent Abu Dhabi-based spon- sors, are that they manipulated contracts to get around that. Asked whether the allegations undermined City's achieve- ments, Guardiola said people had been saying for a decade that the club "just win because we have money" but there was also a lot of hard work involved. "Of course, like many, many clubs around the world they have a lot of money, but they are also an incredible club. Incred- ible people working here, and how professional they are in all the departments," he said. "It's an incredibly professional club, they try to do the good things in the right way. That is all I can say." Guardiola defends Man City over financial fair play allegations Top right: Former Leicester Club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and the other four companions who died in the helicopter crash

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