The mood was never likely to be buoyant around the King Power following Tuesday’s inevitable, but still devastating, relegation. Even so, the atmosphere was among the worst witnessed at the ground since it was opened a quarter of a century ago.
There wasn’t grief at our situation so much as complete apathy. Many, many fans made their displeasure clear by voting with their feet and not attending, and who can blame them? Those hardy souls who attended probably did so for a mixed bag of reasons. Some out of habit, others out of morbid curiosity, others maybe wanting to see Gary Rowett throw caution to the wind with his team selection. All will have left disappointed in one way or another as the curtain was finally lowered on another disastrous season under King Power leadership.
There had been reports that Millwall’s players had indulged in a little trip up to Springs Spa in Ashby pre-match. Was this to calm any jitters before a crucial game in their hunt for automatic promotion? Or was it an attempt to understand their opposition by emulating their Seagrave training regime? Either way, the general flow of the game felt like it was between two teams who would much rather be feet up in a sauna than on a football pitch, as neither side fully committed, instead serving up a tepid, definitively end-of-season affair with few clear-cut chances.
It was certainly more of the same for Leicester City fans in the first half, as City started reasonably brightly but quickly faded, allowing their opponents ample time on the ball and the opportunity to get at the Foxes’ back-line. This was, of course, unsurprising. Rowett made only a couple of changes from the line-up that had delivered one win in their previous 19 league games.
Those changes, however, did at least add some bite. Hamza Choudhury, returning at right-back, made a crunching, goal-saving tackle within the opening forays of the game, and the lesser-spotted Harry Souttar was finally back in Leicester colours for his first outing with us in 853 days, picking up where he left off by broadly getting his head on anything that came his way and chucking himself bravely in front of the ball.
Defensively, others seemed to pick up on that, and while we weren’t exactly solid, there was at least some doggedness to our tackling. I’ll never know why we waited until the penultimate game of the season to try this, but to an extent it worked. Millwall, for whatever reason, simply couldn’t get into their flow, and if anything, got brought down to our level for much of the contest.
Jakub Stolarczyk was still called into action twice in the opening 45 minutes, making two good saves to ensure parity at the break, but for Leicester, it had been an uninspiring attacking performance.
They were able to break lines with relative ease, but time and time again, those trips into the final third usually resulted in a pass back into our own half, or in a sloppy, misguided pass to turn over possession. Fatawu and Reid made little to no impact on the game, with Mukasa providing the only real outlet to no real effect. So basically, exactly what you’ve come to expect from Leicester City this season.
The second half played out in largely the same fashion, with the game meandering towards the end with neither team really taking ownership. Rowett did finally decide to bring on some players who may actually want to be here next season. Louis Page looked positive in midfield, always looking to drive forward, while Jeremy Monga showed flashes of his undoubted ability on the wing.
Souttar was continuing to give the sort of performance that provides tantalising “what if” scenarios, and he capped off a fine showing by scoring. Monga and Thomas combined well, the latter lifting a cross into the back post where Souttar charged in, smashing the ball, as well as two Milwall players, over the line to give Leicester City a rare home lead.
Of course, as is tradition this season, it wasn’t to last. Millwall got their equaliser right at the death, a simple flick around the corner well finished by Macauley Langstaff to lift the Lions into the top two.
Overall, it was all a bit dull. Many Leicester fans will be questioning how a team chasing automatic promotion laboured so hard against such a poor, already relegated side.
In fact, several in attendance were seemingly more interested in the panto-esque contest between Leicester fans and, well, other Leicester fans over how to treat Harry Winks.
He must be the most confused man in Leicestershire this evening. His every touch was booed by one section of fans, and met with applause from the surrounding sections in what I must assume is a sort of counter movement to the booing?
While ridiculous that this is even a thing, it shines a light on a wider, much more serious issue in that even our fanbase is as fractured as it has ever been.
As we look ahead to a definitive season for Leicester City, one of the key projects for the management (who knows what this will look like) is to get everyone – players, fans and staff – working towards a common goal, because the only way back from the brink we have been driven to is as a unified club.
The Fosse Way 