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

Everything about Leicester City’s response to the helicopter crash which killed chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others has been classy and respectful.

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

And for 32,000 people in the congregation, a 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 tributes began with injured stars Harry Maguire and James Maddison joining 20,000 fans on the Walk for Vichai from the city centre to the King Power.

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

At 1.25pm, Top 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 wept with them.

Former managers Nigel Pearson, Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare were all sacked by Srivaddhanaprabha, but joined the parade to pay their respects.

In a 100-page brochure, a match-day programme like no other, Top pledged to carry the torch for his father’s empire.

He wrote: “I will do everything I can to carry on his big vision and dreams.”

Sooner or later, the focus will shift from grief back to football. But it will not be the flick of a switch, nor the race to beat a deadline.

The Leicester players have been immense in their conduct and digging out four points, with two clean sheets, either side of a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand for Vichai’s funeral.

Winger Marc Albrighton admitted: “We’re absolutely drained, mentally and emotionally. Everyone looks at the players because we’re the ones who are out there, but it applies to the whole club as a family.

“The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur and we’ve not really had time to reflect on everything that’s happened.

“To switch between the emotions of a two-minute silence to full focus and game mode is very difficult.”

Manager Claude Puel conceded it might be a long time before Leicester can play without psychological baggage, saying: “We want to perform, but we cannot play all the time with emotion.

“I saw a new maturity in the players during this event. A lot of clubs have a desire to live like a family, but it is true with Leicester. The owner changed the lives of a lot of people in the club and the city. Our responsibility is to continue his dream.”

When visited by disaster, Leicester City were the club who got everything right.

The game was goal-less, but at times like this, who cares about football?