Don’t be a Brendan, be a Conor Coady: Why it’s time for optimism in the Leicester City fanbase
One pre-season game is all it’s taken for Chris Iliffe to emerge from the depths of Leicester despair. And armed with a book of inspirational Coadyisms, he wants to spread the joy.
I spent the final game of last season monitoring both the Leicester and Everton games on Soccer Sunday, watching on as Paul Merson kept telling me that Bournemouth didn’t look close to scoring an equaliser at Goodison Park. Once the results had come in and the TV images flashed to a jubilant Conor Coady hugging the Everton fans who’d rushed on to the pitch in celebration, I pressed the off button on the TV remote and the screen turned black.
I didn’t need to see anything else. The images of Jonny Evans, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans pretending to be devastated were not going to wash with me. We were down. Back in the Championship. And we deserved it.
As the house fell silent, I remember shaking my head and letting out a little swear word encased in a laugh. I didn’t know what to feel. There was no sense of being shocked by the inevitability of what I’d just witnessed. I’d known this would be the case for months. As Madders had suggested, I’d “watched and analysed the games properly”. We had played like we’d played all season during the run-in and – shockingly – we hadn’t won any games comfortably, as our once-great number 10 had suggested we would. The season was over, and we weren’t “absolutely fine”.
With Coady’s smiling face still etched in my mind, my interest in all things Leicester City finally collapsed in a heap. It was not only the players who needed a mental break and some time away from the beautiful game: so did the fans. I went for a walk and felt strangely free. There were no thoughts on the board’s lack of understanding about our fall, or memories of the haunting drone of Brendan Rodgers’ voice, churning out the word “passive” in every post-match interview before departing from the mess he’d helped to create.
I couldn’t be bothered with analysing it anymore. I had downed too many Leicester City cocktails and was in the depths of a terrible hangover, one that makes you never want to drink again. “Keeping the Faith” had never been so hard.
To be a football fan you know you’re going to experience all sorts of emotion. When you win, you’re set for the weekend. There’s a spring in your step. Life is good. When you lose, you might as well just sit in a dark room for a few hours until you’ve stopped channelling your inner Victor Meldrew as you scroll through all the match reports and fans online assessments.
I didn’t want to be in that dark room all summer. It was clear that I needed some time and space away from the rubbish I’d just witnessed over 38 games.
And I had it. For about 24 hours.
Embracing the new world order
That’s how it always goes when things don’t go to plan with Leicester City. I throw my toys out of the pram in true Brendan Rodgers style, but the difference is that I’ll always pick them up and put them back in again, ready for the next adventure with the unfathomable belief that we’ll turn the corner and everything will be ok.
And now here we are. A few weeks to go until the new season and it already feels like that corner is being turned. And Maddison isn’t even taking it.
“We know it can be one of the best seasons of our lives if we do it well”
The Enzo revolution has begun and in the blink of an eye I’ve reached for my blue-tinted glasses and I’m fully behind the lads, ready for what’s to come this season. Things have started positively. It’s been out with the old and in with the bald in a backroom staff that has been refreshed at last, and the clear out of the playing squad has begun. Coady is now in Leicester blue, at the head of the revolutionary vanguard.
Although Jon Rudkin remains and the outcome of his own inquest into what happened has been conveniently swept under the carpet, I’m once again back in the camp of excitement.
“Training’s been fantastic. I’m loving every minute of it. I’m loving playing with the boys, listening to the Manager and learning from him every single day. We want to keep on improving. We know how big the season is for us.”
However, it seems that the fan base is massively divided. There are people who still can’t move on from what happened last season and it may take them a few years to process it. I understand. This constant feeling of going from one extreme to the other, from utter frustration to sheer brilliance and back again, is something that we’re all used to as Leicester City supporters. Why can’t we just stay at the top of our game? Why is it always us?
Nothing summed up the rollercoaster of emotions as a Leicester fan more than that first game against Brentford last season. We hadn’t made any summer signings, Kasper Schmeichel had gone, the hapless Danny Ward had come in on the back of no pre-season, Brendan was being ultra-weird again and we were all grumbling even before a ball had been kicked. Yet by the start of the second half, when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had put us 2-0 up, none of that mattered. We were rocking. Belief was sky high. We would be ok. This talented squad would deliver, despite our troubles, and we’d be fine for a mid-table finish and a cup run.
Fast forward to the final whistle and we were all back in the depths of despair at how easy it had fallen apart before our eyes. A few weeks later, as Wesley Fofana chewed on his dummy in the stands, we lost to Southampton and the black cloud of negativity was still lingering and swirling above us. It stayed there all season long.
Full speed ahead to matchday one
So I get it. Maybe I’ve just boxed up the hurt as I’m fed up with Leicester being a laughing stock. Maybe I’m confronting it by throwing myself too far the other way, banging the drum of positivity by telling everyone that ‘Leicester will be back’, closing my ears to all the noise and ineptitude that has led this club to where it is right now. But I’d rather embrace the new season with the optimistic mindset of our new captain-in-waiting, Coady, whose comments and positivity since he joined has been a bresh of fresh air.
“I’m absolutely over the moon to be here. I couldn’t wait to get down here, obviously to see everyone and get everything signed and boxed off. Now I’m here, I’m massively excited. I’ve been massively excited all summer to be fair and it’s something I was desperate to get done.”
This could be the start of an exciting new dawn, a much-needed new style, and a refreshing new team we can all get behind. I’ve done a full 360º from that fateful Sunday evening in May and I hope more members of those still in the apathetic camp can break out and join me in the ‘thinking positive’ brigade.
With more players incoming I’m sure this upbeat feeling will remain and grow into a frenzy before the Coventry game. I’ll be picking the first XI in my head, telling everyone how Ricardo will storm the league and I’ll be constantly gazing in awe at the beautiful new shirt (bye, horrible gold badge and flappy collars). And by the final whistle of that first game back, I hope I’m still riding the top of this new hopeful wave. There were too many lows on the Leicester City rollercoaster last season – bring on the highs.
My message to Leicester City supporters is try not to be a whinging Brendan as we head towards the first week of the season. Be more like the man who was on screen when I turned off my TV last May. For Conor Coady’s enthusiasm is exactly what we need spreading amongst the fanbase right now.
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