The Fosse Way

Let me preface this by saying I am not what many on socials would refer to as a “Happy Clapper”, nor am I a fully-fledged member of KPFC. Far from it. My frustrations with literally everything associated with Leicester City run as deep as anyone’s.

I understood the boycott. I understood, to a degree, some of the chanting during games, and whilst I never booed myself, I understood why some did.

I understand this, because fundamentally, fan power cannot be understated. Our ability to effect change has been evident on several occasions this year. From the more obvious influence on the changes made at the Foxes Trust and the subsequent increase in drive to hold the club to account, through to Top’s recent media junket, to differing degrees, I entirely believe that fan protestations made a difference.

Some change has been instantaneous. The removal of Marti Cifuentes as manager must’ve been driven at least partially by fan sentiment, which at this point had completely swung against him.

However, in other, arguably much more important regards, we are coming to realise that change, whilst happening, is moving at a glacial pace. Despite announcing the decision back in November, the club has yet to appoint a Technical Director, and sizeable openings in the Managing Director and CEO positions remain – implying that once again the club is being run reactively, rather than proactively. The same can be said for the vacant Manager role; it is abundantly clear that no Plan B was in place when Marti was sacked.

As pointed out in the always interesting Fosse Friday, Jon Holmes summed it up clearly when asked about the King Power ownership, way back in 2016: “The owners have twice got rid of managers without any clear idea who would replace them. Martin George always said to me you need to have two in reserve because your money could lose eight on the trot or he could get poached. You need to have that backup plan. Twice they haven’t and twice they’ve got away with it. With Ranieri, suddenly they hit the jackpot.”

“A lot of successful people don’t know how lucky they are”.

How right you were, Jon.

But as far as I can see, the fans’ message has been received and acted upon. Equally, though, protestations about the manager and the owner have reached their zenith, and I cannot see them having any further impact should they continue. The damage is done, change is coming, but we cannot speed it up.

Which, in a meandering sort of way, brings me to my point. One that I suspect might be unpopular.

If we cannot bring about change off the pitch, then we should focus all our efforts into changing the fortunes on it.

The last two games have been desperate, we know that. By full-time, there were just a handful of fans left in the stadium to vent their frustrations to the frankly embarrassed looking men in blue. Not that the sharp increase in early leavers affected the atmosphere any. The fans are as flat as I have ever known them in my 30+ years following this team.

I want to stress once again that I understand why. To say that what is happening in front of us is uninspiring would be the understatement of the century, and the fact that our fall from grace has been so sudden, makes it worse. But part of me left the Charlton game with a palpable sense of frustration. Most of this was directed towards Caleb Okoli’s last two brain cells, but some was directed more inward.

It is abundantly clear that the fans’ attitude is influencing those on the pitch as the toxicity reaches new heights (or should that be lows?).

The loudest chants are often ironic at best and at worst, abusive. Players being booed onto the pitch, or ironically cheered when taken off, is something I can simply not fathom. The players are afforded absolutely zero patience, either, with every mistake jumped upon and very loudly bemoaned. In fact, the only chanting throughout the Charlton game was “what the ****ing hell was that?” or “If Daka scores, we’re on the pitch”.

This is so obviously creating nervousness in some, if not all, of the team, with several players clearly terrified of making a mistake. It also ensures that heads drop quicker, that resilience fades faster, and that creates further nerves in a seriously vicious cycle.

When going behind, as we so often have, our fans don’t look to spur their side on to find a response; there is more of a grumble of acceptance, apathy sets in, and this leaves space for the most vociferous detractors to make their voices heard even further. Special mention to the chap a few rows in front of me that opted to do some online shopping 30 minutes into the game last week.

Even home-grown talents in the very fledgling stages of their careers are being loudly and robustly criticised by some in the stands. Jeremy Monga is “lazy” and “uninterested”, Louis Page is another off the “sideways and backwards” production line, according to some around me. These are not necessarily the opinions of the masses, but they are opinions very loudly made. Both are exciting young players who should be visualising their future at the club, with our support, but is this the atmosphere that you’d want to develop in, given the choice? My guess is that it probably isn’t.

People have a right to complain. They have a right to demand change, and we have seen how effective these voices can be in swaying opinion. But there is a danger that in allowing negativity to become the overriding narrative, we are creating a vacuum of apathy. Many leave the game early, usually as soon as we concede, with several filing out less than a quarter into the last game last week. Many have chosen not to turn up at all. The atmosphere in the ground, or lack thereof, clearly plays a part in this.

It is hard to support and generate excitement without inspiration from those on the pitch, I get this, and there’s an argument that several of the squad simply don’t deserve our backing.

But it is looking increasingly likely that we are in a death-spiral, slowly falling down the table, inexorably heading towards another, shocking relegation that would, in my view, hold disastrous long-term consequences.

So I guess we have a choice to make as a collective. Can we attempt to break the cycle? Can we, for 90 minutes at least, generate some positivity that we can build upon to reverse our fortunes?

I am not one of the “hardcore” fans who take the lead in starting the songs every week, and I have perhaps been guilty of being somewhat muted in the last few weeks as the chanting has been overwhelmingly negative, but if there was a more positive theme to our support, I am 100% certain I’d be joining in and I am equally certain that I am not alone in this either.

There are new faces in the door and a club legend at the helm (for now, at least). If there was ever a time to start fresh and start backing the lads in the bad times, not just the good, then this would be it.