Leicester City have been relegated - but does anyone care?
Last Sunday, Leicester City were relegated from the Premier League for the second time in three seasons. No official statement from the club’s leadership. No change of manager. No real idea what happens next.
Again.
Two years ago, as Leicester City approached the final three games of the 2022/23 Premier League season, The Fosse Way inbox was deluged with furious missives.
We published six in the space of three days under the theme Invitation to Rant.
Here’s a line apiece from each of them:
“This season and our decline has been death by a thousand cuts.”
“I definitely don't know where we go from here and there's no comfort to be offered from Leicester City because it's as clear as day that absolutely nobody within the club knows either.”
“How low do we have to sink before we're allowed to put a finger in the air and clear our throat and say ‘erm, excuse me, this isn't good enough’?”
“We have all seen our fair share of awful Leicester sides over the years, but even at the darkest times there were individuals and personalities you could rely on as consistent performers, vocal leaders, and grafters.”
“I feel like I’ve spent nine months, perhaps longer, trying to grab the club by the scruff of the neck and shake it: do you understand what’s happening here?”
“I’ve never felt more disconnected from every aspect of the club.”
This year?
Zilch, nothing, nada.
And nothing from the club either.
The absence of anger from Leicester fans seems strange to some but re-reading what we were saying two years ago is a bit of a clue. What more is there to be said now, especially when communication is a one-way road?
One line from two years ago stands out:
“Non-Leicester supporting friends of mine are already predicting that we will bounce straight back to the Premier League at a canter.”
Of course, this is - on the surface - exactly what happened. Champions. 97 points. Redemption and the chance to re-establish Leicester City Football Club as a Premier League force.
Twelve months on, it’s clear this view from neutrals was never rooted in reality. Relegation from the Premier League and the ramifications for both the overall finances and squad strength in particular mean you can’t simply bounce back and stay there as if nothing happened.
No. Instead, we had constrained ourselves to send out a wildly uncompetitive team that promptly got itself relegated before anyone could finish their Easter eggs.
Although we could see it coming a fair way off last time, relegation was still a relative shock. The club bothered to put out a statement to try to placate and reassure fans, for a start. This time, absolutely everybody involved - players, fans, board, Filbert Fox - has been sitting and waiting for it to happen.
It’s understandable from a supporter’s perspective. Never mind Easter eggs, we haven’t scored at home in the league since we were still getting used to our advent calendars.
Yes, there have been protests - many of which have been covered in the national media. The problem is that Leicester’s fanbase is now split down the middle between people stuck in 2016 and people stuck in 2023. Half will always be grateful to King Power for the good times. Half can never forgive them for the subsequent decline. It’s hard to see this changing when runs of seven and eight consecutive defeats aren’t enough to rouse people to want change.
The scenes in the final stages of the defeat to Liverpool last Sunday showed that no matter how bad it gets, there will still be plenty of middle-aged blokes in replica shirts paying through the nose to sit with their arms folded and wait patiently for the next goal to applaud.
They might not agree but we’re ripe for a long overdue reset. Jamie Vardy’s impending departure merely underlines that need, from more than just a footballing perspective. This is a club that must move on from the people responsible for its highest highs, both on and off the pitch, and begin again.
We can reflect on our recent successes without needing to show a video of them before kickoff every other week. We can start to implement a style of play that doesn’t vary from manager to manager. We can buy players who fit that style of play. We can play young players and trust them to develop.
None of this should be revolutionary. But things have got so bad this season it has marked the first time that supporters can look at jobs such as Director of Football, Head of Recruitment or First Team Manager and genuinely think they couldn’t do any worse themselves.
So this is more of a lament than a rant. But it is also a reminder to our football club that Leicester City haven’t just “confirmed our place in the 2025/26 Championship”.
We have been relegated.
Again.
Perhaps now it’s finally time to acknowledge failures and make necessary changes?
