The outpouring of grief amongst the Leicester City fans over the tragic death of club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a helicopter crash last Saturday, along with four others, reflects just how much he meant to the Foxes' supporters and the city of Leicester.
The sorrow was encompassed by the whole footballing world which had been impressed by the Thai billionaire’s role in helping Leicester achieve one of football’s most unlikely triumphs.
It is extremely rare these days for a football club chairman to be held in such esteem by supporters, but clearly Vichai made an impact with his personal touch which impressed both players and fans. He cared about his club.
Many tributes have appeared in this newspaper from Leicester players.
After scoring the winner for Manchester City against Tottenham in the Premier League on Monday, Riyad Mahrez said: “He was like a dad. He was very special”.
Current Leicester players visibly shaken by Vichai’s death were Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy.
In an open letter, Schmeichel paid tribute to the “dedicated and passionate” owner.
Vichai will of course always be remembered for overseeing Leicester’s extraordinary achievement in the 2015-16 season when, against all odds, with Claudio Ranieri at the helm, the club won the Premier League title.
It was the classic footballing fairy tale that rarely transforms into reality.
To fully recognise Vichai’s achievement, it is necessary to go back to 2010 when the Thai consortium he headed took over the club which only one year earlier had been in the third tier League One.
Vichai, also owner of Thailand's King Power duty free empire, was named chairman in February 2011 with his son Aiyawatt being vice-chairman.
After a couple of seasons knocking at the door, Leicester won promotion back to the Premier League in 2014 with Nigel Pearson as manager.
Their first season back in the top flight, 2014-15, was almost as extraordinary as their title-winning exploits the following season, but in very different circumstances.
On Boxing Day 2014, Leicester were rock bottom of the Premier League, not having won in 13 matches.
The bad form continued until mid-March and they looked doomed.
The Foxes then embarked on a remarkable run of winning seven of nine games and finished the season in 14th place.
They were understandably euphoric after the great escape.
However, things went a bit pear-shaped on a pre-season tour of Thailand. Much of the good work was undone when three of the squad, including the manager’s son James, behaved improperly.
It hardly came as a surprise when, back in England, Pearson parted company with the club.
What did come as a surprise, however, was his replacement, Ranieri, who had just been sacked as manager of Greece.
Ranieri’s appointment was not greeted with enthusiasm by Leicester fans who feared another relegation battle.
Little did anyone know that Leicester were about to pull off one of the most remarkable triumphs in English football history.
For more than two decades football fans had dreamed that an unfancied team would eventually take a run at the Premier League title.
In 2016 those wishes came to fruition thanks to this most unlikely source.
Nobody saw it coming, especially from a club that was almost relegated the previous season.
Leicester started their memorable season promisingly, thanks partly to Vardy who scored 11 goals in 13 matches.
After defeating Everton 3-2 on Dec 19, Leicester found themselves top of the league on Christmas Day. The year before they had been bottom.
For the remainder of the season everyone was expecting one of the big clubs to overhaul Leicester, but it never happened.
The Foxes eventually won by a surprisingly comfortable margin, 10 points ahead of Arsenal.
Ranieri and his team deserved all the headlines they got. The Daily Express called it the “Greatest Fairytale in Football History”.
Leicester returned to Thailand to celebrate the title in an open-top bus parade, with everyone behaving in exemplary fashion.
Their previous visit came after just escaping relegation. This time they returned as champions. It’s a funny old game.
At the start of the following season, there was a wonderful moment when Ranieri escorted onto the pitch Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli who sang Nessun Dorma to the crowd at the King Power Stadium. If you haven’t heard it, take a look on YouTube.
It is hard to imagine that after all this euphoria, seven months later Vichai had to make his most difficult decision as owner of Leicester — the sacking of club hero, Ranieri.
The Foxes had suffered poor results in the new season, and in February, with the team only one point above relegation zone, the axe came down on the affable Italian manager. Only two months earlier he had been named coach of the year.
The Thai owners were in an unenviable position. If it had not been for Ranieri’s fantastic achievement the previous season, the Italian would have been long gone.
But Ranieri was unquestionably a decent man, a bit like everybody’s favourite uncle. Sacking him would not look good.
Vichai and his board had a real dilemma. If they hung on to Ranieri and it resulted in relegation, they would be accused of inaction.
Knowing most Leicester fans would prefer seeing their team in the Premier League rather than the Championship, the owners bit the bullet.
Their decision to sack Ranieri was met with heavy criticism, including from former star Gary Lineker who called the sacking “gut-wrenchingly sad”.
Fortunately for the board the replacement manager Craig Shakespeare did a decent job and they finished in a respectable 12th place.
Shakespeare was later replaced by current boss Claude Puel.
Leicester’s theme song, When You’re Smiling, is clearly not very appropriate in the present circumstances.
But hopefully it won’t be too long before they are back to singing When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.
All football fans will endorse that message of hope, whatever their allegiance.
