Ten years ago, Leicester City had defied the odds to tee up the most astonishing period in the club’s history, winning a Premier League title, lifting the FA Cup, and competing in three European campaigns.
That Leicester side had unity, work ethic, dependable
leadership, good planning, excellent recruitment and a never-say-die spirit
that pulled them through.
This season’s Leicester have none of those, and have meekly
surrendered to a relegation that was confirmed on Sunday. Their 1-0 defeat
against Liverpool was a ninth consecutive home defeat without scoring — a
top-flight record.
Acrimony against members of the hierarchy is growing, with
some fans hiring a plane that flew over the stadium carrying a banner that
read: “King Power Clueless. Sack the Board.” Another banner displaying similar
sentiments was seen in the corner of the Kop at full time. Director of football
Jon Rudkin is the figure many protesters see as the most culpable for
Leicester’s decline.
Others can certainly share responsibility. Owner and
chairman Aiyawatt ‘Khun Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha attended on Sunday and has
some big decisions to make.
This will all be further complicated by profit and
sustainability rules (PSR). When Leicester were relegated in 2023, the English
Football League, which governs the second, third and fourth tiers, attempted to
impose a business plan to restrict the club’s budget and player trading.
Leicester won a legal battle against the EFL and the Premier League over an
alleged breach of PSR. However, that issue remains in an arbitration process
and the EFL is likely to be looking at imposing sanctions on Leicester.
This had an impact on
pre-season recruitment. t wasn’t
just potential managerial candidates who had concerns over a points deduction
from potential PSR punishments. According to sources close to the discussions,
players were reluctant to commit. Some players’ agents wanted any contracts to
include clauses to protect their clients in the event of a points deduction.
The squad was arguably weaker than the one that was
promoted, let alone being weaker than the squad that was packed with
internationals but relegated two years before.
It was announced in September that Leicester had
successfully appealed against the Premier League charge and that no points
deduction would be immediately forthcoming, but this was delivered a week
after the end of the summer window. The issue of jurisdiction (between the
leagues) remains in arbitration.
If the anger and acrimony were bad two years before, this time they were magnified to the point of despair. Some supporters even lost the will to protest, feeling nothing will change. This time, returning to the Premier League will be much more difficult, but this may lead to a realisation of the scale of the problems and the need to sort things out.
Arguably Leicester have been the victims of the rather
inconsistent attempts of the Premier League to enforce its financial fair play
rules, although fans of other clubs have argued that Leicester tried an initially successful legal manoeuvre that has now bit them back. The Premier League continues to
campaign against a football regulator, but its record of self-governance is not
that impressive. The same goes for the
EFL.
However, one Leicester fan commented: 'It was not PSR that was to blame, it has been Rudkin and various managers failing to make an impact under with their spending and having zero contingency plans. Regulations don't cause collapses like this, they simply make it impossible to hide hierarchical mediocrity.' So are complaints about the regulations an alibi to cover up an internal mess?
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