Leicester helicopter crash: Puel to give stars until kick-off to pull out of Cardiff match

The Foxes boss knows his players are struggling to focus on the Cardiff clash after the helicopter tragedy which rocked the club last week.

Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others lost their lives when his private aircraft lost control and crashed at the King Power Stadium last Saturday.

Puel will have one final check before handing in his teamsheet at the Cardiff City Stadium, and says that given the extraordinary circumstances he will understand if one of his grief-stricken stars find he cannot step over the white line.

“I won’t dictate anything,” he said. “We will wait. We will make the point even on the day of the game that everything is open.”

A number of the players were close to the Thai businessman, especially the likes of title-winning stars Jamie Vardy, Wes Morgan, Andy King and Kasper Schmeichel.

Vichai and his son Top were at Vardy’s wedding and Schmeichel witnessed the helicopter engulfed in flames just an hour after the 1-1 draw with West Ham.

All players around the country will wear black armbands on Saturday and the atmosphere in is sure to be highly charged.

Puel says the result is secondary and the welfare and mindset of his shattered players is the No1 priority.

“The first thing is to listen to my players and to the different feelings,” he added. “I said after this incident we have to understand people and the man, not the player. The player is the second thing. The most important thing is the man.

“From what I’ve seen, I think all the players would like to play and that’s why we wanted the game to go ahead. But the option not to play will be there. Although we are a team, it is still a very personal thing.”

Leicester’s Carabao Cup clash with Southampton in midweek was postponed and they had the option to pull out of Saturday’s game.

But after close consultations with the owner’s widow Aimon, son Aiyawatt, players and staff members, it was decided it was time to get back to business.

The funeral ceremony in Bangkok starts on Saturday and goes on for six days and the club are hastily trying to put together a plan allowing players to make the 6,0000-mile trip to pay their respects.

The  party arrived in Cardiff by coach on Friday after deciding flying to the Welsh capital wasn’t an option given what had happened.