Hazzetta dello Sport 2024 - Issue 10: Ipswich v Leicester City
What a difference a week makes. The relief of the first win over Bournemouth followed by the jubilation of the last-minute winner at Southampton fully extinguished.
Instead it's been replaced by the resignation that the same errors and mistakes are being made again, as showcased in the losses to Forest and Manchester United. This dread is further enhanced by the history of the Leicester City hierarchy being reluctant to change until it's the only thing left staring them in the face.
The second half performance last Friday evening has eaten away and spent far too much consuming me. It was the horrors we feared played out. A boisterous away end celebrating the demise of the twenty-nine thousand sat there watching their home team look so utterly devoid of quality.
I can count on one hand the number of times Forest have managed that away at Leicester. Across the rest of the weekend, we’ve had to endure plenty of Forest fans giving advice on how to stay up and be united.
I left in the 93rd minute, into the darkness of the night and tore up plans for a post-match drink, choosing instead to use my last chance to catch public transport back home. A scapegoat was needed and hot takes aplenty were circling my mind. As time this week has passed, there has been a sad acceptance amongst the fanbase that we are a horror show.
On Wednesday, at the cost of nearly £50, supporters were treated to a combination of squad players who should have been let go a long time ago and squad players who never should have been signed. The team selection duly got the beating it deserved and was further evidence that Steve Cooper’s repeated tactic of pushing the right-back higher up is a calamity.
Rarely does a match preview contain such a personal feeling but I hark back to the evening at Deepdale when it felt for once that the fanbase was united. The players were connected and there was a quiet ambition that we were going to right a few wrongs in 2024/25. The victory tour which played out over the next month extinguished all of that.
Thai influencers on open top buses, yet another picture of Monte Carlo. The continued bad choices made on ticketing, memberships, sponsorships. The stuttering of fan engagement and the denial of safe standing. The club evaporated all the good will it had managed to win back.
Why I say this now is that Forest’s victory left me completely gutted at the realisation that Leicester City are so devoid of knowing their future destination compared to our opponents.
If you had to describe us, we are like crabs. There may well be a willingness to go forward but they can only walk sideways. The fans are criticised from the outside for our expectations but the reality on the ground is that many parts of the club have a lazy streak of complacency which is underlined by expectation.
There’s no ambition in any facet. Wait for a stadium expansion to happen. Wait for safe standing. Wait for a community cause. Carry on with the same old routines.
The promises to improve fan facilities around the ground have been nonsense. It's street food and local products provided by a corporate catering supplier. There is always a reason why they can’t or why they won’t. Successful companies thrive on can and will.
What did we expect after all? We are now newly promoted. We are a couple of levels down from what we were. Well, the football club set the bar with the decisions of the summer. Increasing prices to an eye-watering level eventually makes people reassess the actual value. If you want to build a siege mentality, don’t price tickets as high as £100 for a local derby when you need the crowd on your side. People, rightly, expect £100 performances.
Communication is more than words. We need to identify what makes this club thrive and use it. We are an underdog. The litter of the runt. The anti-notion of the holier than thou attitude of many football clubs. My own personal feeling has been that we’ve kept up this pretense of thinking we are part of the cool kids when we’ve been left behind.
On the pitch there’s a choice to be conservative but our defenders are not strong enough to defend for continued spells as the evidence of shots and goals conceded proves. However, we have a collection of players in attacking areas who can make things happen as the comebacks and fantastic goals can attest to. But we are putting the weakest parts of the squad under the highest scrutiny and not asking enough from the stronger sections. That sums it up concisely.
I am keen to see on Saturday how the vibe is around Ipswich and Portman Road. Are their fans still in a bubble? Or has the topflight dream become drab? There's been encouraging signs for them but they remain winless. Much like ourselves, the attacking parts of their play are firing but the defensive side is in disarray.
After nine games, you would assume that the Tractor Boys might think it’s kitchen sink time to grab a win. Collectively as LCFC fans, we can see what’s coming.
Anyway, rant over. Off my chest. That’s what losing a derby does to you. Back to normal service next weekend.
