Amid the outpouring of emotion for the loss of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, as matters of football shrunk into inconsequence, the inevitable question as to what happens next began to be whispered.
The 60-year-old was utterly instrumental to Leicester, the ultimate decision-maker if not necessarily involved in all the weekly minutiae. He was someone who the players universally called The Boss.
Carrying a quiet authority, he made the calls that transformed Leicester from a club treading water in the Championship to one riding the wave of football’s wildest story.
To many, he will be irreplaceable. But somehow Leicester must start to try.
On Sunday Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Vichai’s son known as Top, was making the same journey he has travelled so many times before. He flew from Bangkok to Leicester to be close to his father and to attempt to perform the duties required by the club.
As vice-chairman, Top had a closer handle on the daily running of Leicester than his dad and is well-equipped to assume to role of chairman when appropriate.
Quite easily, he might wish to never set foot inside the King Power Stadium again. The affects of grief know no bounds and that ground now stands not only as the site of greatest joy but overwhelming devastation.
But the initial belief is that he wants to continue the special relationship his family have engendered and experienced.
While Vichai’s word was final on all major matters, Top’s advice has been invaluable at crucial junctures.
On that crazy day in February 2015 when Nigel Pearson was told he was sacked, it was son who convinced father to reverse the decision. Leicester stayed up.
When the club did look for a replacement that summer, Top first interviewed Claudio Ranieri before recommending the Italian to Vichai for a second, final interview.
‘At that time there were a number of managers I got in to interview,’ Top said in the May Leicester lifted the Premier League title. ‘Claudio was my first choice – even though I had three or four more to interview.
‘He had something special on that day and when he spoke he said everything I wanted to hear.
'All the plans I had in my head, he said them out loud. The way he wanted to manage the team was the right way for what the club wanted.’
Vichai never gave a single media interview in England, preferring to do his talking with his deeds. But it was telling that Top assumed the responsibility to put a public face to the ownership team.
Fate decreed he was not on the helicopter flight that ended in disaster. Usually he would have been.
But he has been spending more time in Thailand the past two years due to his role as chief executive of King Power, the duty-free company that his father built into a multibillion pound enterprise.
King Power ultimately owns Leicester, but is a very much a family business. Vichai’s wife Aimon, his other son Apichet, and daughters Voramas and Aroonroong are all named as King Power executives.
They have each been pictured at Leicester matches, but only Apichet holds a role as executive director at the club. Top has always been the the most involved.
There in August 2010, there in May 2014, there in May 2016. He will be needed even more frequently now.
