Respect is the winner on emotionally-charged day

SOMETIMES it takes a tragedy to bring out the very best in football.

Everything about Leicester’s response to the helicopter crash which claimed the lives of chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others has displayed class and respect.

Today, the entire club will shut down after chief executive Susan Whelan told 250 staff to take the day off to pause for reflection.

Vichai’s heartbroken son Aiyawatt, known as ‘Top’, has flown back to Thailand, reassuring the Foxes that the end of an era will not be the end of a dynasty’s ownership.

And for 32,000 people in the congregation, a breathtaking kaleidoscope of rainbows, raw emotion and remembrance will live in the memory as much as Leicester’s

5,000-1 title miracle in

2016. A day of spectacular tributes began with injured stars Harry Maguire and James Maddison joining 20,000 fans on the ‘Walk for Vichai’ from Jubilee Place in the city centre to the King Power Stadium.

Normally migrations of that scale converging on a football stadium are set against a backdrop of mutiny or protest, but not this one. It was a stroll of honour.

At 1.25pm, Top (above)

visited the shrine to his father, yards from the crash site, serenaded by fans’ applause and a huge banner reading, “We stand with you, Top.”

The fringe of replica shirts from clubs far and wide lining the entire pitch perimeter – with the Leicester squad, in numerical order beneath the directors’ box – was the players’ idea.

And when Top led a VIP lap of honour, to thank the people of a proud city for their support, the dark skies were weeping with them.

Former managers Nigel Pearson, Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare – architects of the greatest football story ever told – were all sacked by Srivaddhanaprabha, but they all joined the parade to pay their respects.

And Jamie Vardy’s auction of his private box for the day raised

£20,000 for Vichai’s UP NEXT: Referee: YOUR TURN: