The Fosse Way

An hour or so before Leicester City kicked off in the Potteries to begin the Gary Rowett era, the Austrian four-man bobsleigh team set off on their second run in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

They were more than halfway down when their sled toppled over, continuing the course upside down at 140 kilometres an hour and eventually coming to rest a few metres from the line, resulting in instant disqualification. There followed a 20-minute halt to proceedings while the Austrian pilot, Jakob Mandlbauer, was extracted from the sled and carted off to hospital for treatment.

For those of us who have been tuning into the Winter Olympics for a bit of light relief from the slow-motion car crash that is Leicester City’s 2025/26 Championship season, trying to process this initially comic scene with a growing sense of dread felt a little too close to home.

Most viewers would have eventually been reassured when the Austrian team’s press officer said: “He’ll be fine”. Based on past experience, Leicester fans would be forgiven for hearing those words and fearing the worst.

But where will Leicester City be in three months? Still a Championship club? Or back in League One for the first time since the Potters put them there 18 years ago, but this time with serious financial issues?

If it’s the latter, then we might be replaying the final 30 seconds or so of this February afternoon in Stoke amid the wreckage. 30 seconds that saw Joe Aribo scuff what looked like an inevitable late winner straight at the home side’s goalkeeper Tommy Simkin, Ben Nelson loop a header onto the crossbar and Luke Thomas hit the post with a header from three yards out. 30 seconds in which, according to my wife, I broke the world record for the amount of times someone can say “Oh no”.

Lest we forget, Leicester’s previous league outing saw them 3-0 up and cruising before the sled was turned upside down. Just when you thought you’d stopped caring, this football club will somehow always manage to lure you back in and disappoint you all over again.

Rowett began life in the Leicester dugout without the injured Jannik Vestergaard, Hamza Choudhury, Jordan James, Aaron Ramsey, Jordan Ayew and the latest casualty, Abdul Fatawu. Ex-Stoke man Harry Souttar wasn’t ready to come back yet either and Bobby De Cordova-Reid completed the final match of his suspension. So the team was young enough in places, with Jeremy Monga and Divine Mukasa both starting, but the bench resembled a creche.

Most teams get a new manager bounce that lasts three or four games. Ours lasted 20 seconds before Patson Daka needlessly gave the ball away in the middle of the pitch and Stoke began a series of attacks which ended with a free header for the opening goal, Ben Wilmot cashing in The Visit of Leicester early doors to double his tally for the season.

If that was the first clue this was the bad half, others quickly followed. We were still in the first ten minutes when Harry Winks and Victor Kristiansen conspired to turn possession of the ball on the halfway line into a Stoke throw in a dangerous position. A few moments later, Caleb Okoli let the ball run out for a throw on the other side. We looked like a team who had a collective bet on Stoke scoring from a long throw.

Amid all of this, Sorba Thomas was continually allowed the freedom of the Potteries to hurl crosses into our six-yard box. It was surprising that it took until the half hour for Stoke to come close to a second, Ashley Phillips heading against the bar before Tatsuki Seko sent his follow-up just wide.

At the other end, Leicester’s only two periods of possession culminated in a brainless Stephy Mavididi shot when runners were well-placed and Oliver Skipp howitzering a through ball straight out of play. When they briefly threatened to look competent through a fierce Ricardo drive tipped over the bar by Simkin, the momentum was lost thanks to the worst corner of all time which actively created a Stoke counter attack.

All this was too much for Kristiansen, who must still be bemoaning that glimpse of a permanent move to Bologna two years ago. So, Luke Thomas.

A few minutes before half time, a deep corner from Winks caused trouble for Simkin and had to be headed off the line. It felt like a reminder that if Leicester could just manage to do a bit of running and pressing, they might also manage some passing and shooting, and perhaps even a goal. Maybe that was Rowett’s first half time team talk of his spell.

The body language had been terrible before the break. Even when it includes a wealth of senior players, this team still lacks natural leaders to help get a grip of games and the return of Lascelles can’t come quickly enough. Only playing well for 45 minutes every game may not be good enough to stay in the Championship, but it does at least create a sense of anticipation for the second half if the first has been abject.

So Leicester set off in pursuit of a leveller. First, Ben Pearson picked up a yellow for kicking Mavididi during a dangerous counter. Ben Nelson couldn’t connect with the resulting free kick. There were soon six blue shirts in the Stoke penalty area, a clear sign of the change in intent and momentum. And Leicester were level when Divine Mukasa’s attempted cross crept in at the back post.

Although Monga had been ineffective, it seemed a shame when he was replaced by Joe Aribo just when the tide was turning and his direct dribbling was beginning to look threatening. Yet it was the other teenager whose influence was having an impact.

Mukasa may play at half-speed a lot of the time but if the rest of the team can function at a reasonable level, here’s the difference-maker we’ve needed. His equaliser was a little fortunate. His volley just wide from a Thomas cross was spectacular. His contribution a minute later to the goal that put Leicester into the lead was a touch of genius, backheeling the ball in a tight space for Winks to drive in from the edge of the area. Cue wild celebrations from players and supporters, a moment that fleetingly made every grumble evaporate.

Those celebrations were slightly curious, in that they looked genuinely exuberant from a set of players who have been accused of not caring for long periods this season. The goalscorer Winks, in particular, has had two stretches of absence, one with a rationale and one for reasons unknown. The club’s lack of communication means he’s back in the team and grabbing the badge without supporters really knowing how much he can possibly mean it.

In any case, in several universes that would have been the end of it. Stoke had barely shown anything in attack in the second half. But in this one, we’re stuck with this miserable Leicester City side who refuse to accept any offer of victory. Some supporters will see only our second away point since the first week of December as a positive. Yet if we’re not going to win games like this one, after not winning a game when we were 3-0 up at half time, it doesn’t bode well.

Leicester didn’t have to steer a four-man bobsleigh down a treacherous course at breakneck speed to win. All they had to do was track the runner. Instead, Mavididi stood and watched from a safe distance as Wilmot advanced into the penalty area to meet yet another deep cross from close range. It was Wilmot’s first-ever brace and meant that across 232 games, he scored 14% of his career goals yesterday.

But it should have counted for nothing, because Leicester still constructed one of the most frustrating finales imaginable. A sitter, a header that hit the woodwork and then a headed sitter that hit the woodwork. We were millimetres away from an all-time great moment for a Leicester lad for whom a bit of fortune would have been nice.

At the final whistle, men in blue shirts were spread across the Stoke City pitch in agony like they were 18 years ago. This can’t end like that did. But, as Mick McCarthy is all too ready to tell you, it can. That’s why we are left clinging to the hope offered by Mukasa’s quality, the return of injured players and Rowett having more time to work with a failing defence.

On Friday night, Blackburn scored a 95th-minute winner. Portsmouth followed that up on Saturday afternoon with an improbable victory at promotion-chasing Millwall and even Oxford picked up a point at second-placed Middlesbrough. Leicester have to make the most of any chances we get to climb out of the hole we’re in. They didn’t hear.

We’re constantly told by commentators that a single moment “sums up a game”. The final action of this one really did, because this was a missed opportunity.