Former Sunderland AFC star Matt Piper thanks fans after tributes to King Power Stadium helicopter crash victims

Owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others were killed people when his helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from the ground on Saturday evening.

There has been a steady stream of supporters arriving since the early hours of today, as supporters continue to lay their tributes, including flowers, scarves and shirts to the ever-growing shrine which now extends down one side of the stadium.

Matt Piper is from Leicester and now works for the club. He shared a picture of a tribute from Sunderland supporters on social media site Twitter.

The former winger came up through his hometown club's youth ranks, making his first team debut in October 2001 and scoring the last ever competitive goal at Filbert Street before the club moved to its current home.

He joined Sunderland in August 2002, but his time at the Stadium of Light was plagued with injury problems, and he made fewer than 30 starts in more than three years.

Matt, who is now in charge of the under-15s at Leicester, shared a picture of a bouquet of flowers, tied with a Sunderland scarf, and wrote: "Blessed to have played for 2 Great clubs in #lcfc & #safc in my F/Ball career.

"Both of which have incredible fans! Class act @SAFCSupporters

"Card reads: The thoughts of all the Sunderland supporters branches are with Leicester City football club and supporters x"