This season has been catastrophic for Leicester, major changes are needed after catalogue of poor decision-making
Leicester City have been relegated with not so much a whimper, but a feeble, miserable sigh.
A football club, once envied for how it was run, is heading to the Championship for the second time in three seasons after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.
7
7
The 2016 Premier League champions and 2021 FA Cup winners are at crossroads. Those heady days challenging for European football and silverware are a distant memory.
The catalogue of poor decision-making goes back several seasons, but the period since their triumphant day at Wembley is where the success truly unravels.
An eighth-place Premier League finish in the 2021/22 season and a UEFA Conference League semi-final appearance masked the early signs of demise under Brendan Rodgers.
The following season ended disastrously. A club with a wage bill supposedly worthy of a top-half side would end up in the EFL.
MORE ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE
Granted, Rodgers was unable to refresh his squad as he wanted in the summer of 2022 due to PSR concerns, but a squad containing the likes of James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans should’ve been too good to go down.
The loyalty to Rodgers meant he was sacked six months later than he should have. The poor results weren’t solely down to him, but he shoulders a fair share of responsibility.
To Leicester's credit, high-value assets were sold, costs brought down and promotion was achieved under Enzo Maresca at the first time of asking with a set of players and a manager that looked like it might give it a fight in the Premier League.
A mistake had been corrected, and it felt like new foundations had been set for the future. This season, however, has been catastrophic.
Most read in Football
It began with the loss of Maresca and fan-favourite Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea last summer, followed by the pursuance of Graham Potter to no success.
Steve Cooper, a manager sacked by local-rivals Nottingham Forest, was appointed to a mixed fan reaction. He was dismissed after just 12 Premier League games, leaving them 16th in the table.
7
7
Cooper and Leicester weren't a good fit. A largely poor set of summer signings, including £20million spent on Tottenham’s Oliver Skipp, and a chaotic set of results and performances may have kept the Foxes above the drop zone.
But a sizeable group of fans, and ultimately the owner Aiyawatt 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha, just couldn’t warm to him. Sacking him corrected another mistake.
The next appointment had to be right, but let’s be blunt - Ruud van Nistelrooy has been disastrous.
Leicester's Ruud awakening
- Van Nistelrooy has accrued just 8 points from a possible 60 since taking over as manager
- 16 defeats in 20 Premier League matches
- Leicester last scored a home goal in the Premier League on 8th December 2024
- They have found the back of the net on just five occasions in the Premier League this calendar year
- Leicester have conceded 43 goals under the Dutchman, scoring just 11
- Jamie Vardy has scored just 3 Premier League since van Nistelrooy’s appointment, including 1 in his last 17 appearances
- August loan signing Odsonne Edouard has played just 26 minutes of football under van Nistelrooy. He hasn’t been in a Premier League matchday squad since Boxing Day
- The club’s only January signing, defender Woyo Coulibaly, has appeared in just 4 Premier League games, amassing 107 minutes of action
- Leicester’s defeat to Liverpool on Sunday means they’re the first team in top-flight history go nine consecutive league games without scoring
Whilst van Nistelrooy and this set of players certainly aren’t immune from criticism, they’re a consequence of recent failures.
He’s told talkSPORT post-Liverpool that he's waiting for clarification from the club over his future. I don’t think he’s earned the right to continue as manager. His record is that poor.
The fans aren’t happy. They’ve protested, flown banners pre-match, called for change, in the main targeting director of football Jon Rudkin, and a sizeable number have stayed away from the King Power, most notably in the 3-0 defeat to Newcastle earlier this month. Even against Liverpool, there were pockets of empty seats.
7
7
'Top's' loyalty to Rudkin is commendable to a point. A man that’s very close to the Srivaddhanaprabha family has overseen successes in his decade in the role but he must take his share of the blame for recent failures.
It’s not about owners having the deepest pockets anymore. Whilst it’s clearly helpful, it’s now about having a strategy that works for clubs like Leicester.
Brighton are rightly held up as the example of being a well-run club. Their recruitment strategy and managerial appointments are admirable. Leicester aren’t in the same league, literally and figuratively.
I ask 'Top' whether he’s prepared to make drastic changes to how the club’s being run. If not, is it time to sell up? It’s not a question that I ask lightly due to his long-standing emotional ties to the club, but it’s one that becomes increasingly relevant as the failures pile up.
No one is questioning his backing. It received 'exceptionally strong support' from King Power throughout their previous visit to the EFL as high value players were sold and costs brought down. And he also wiped £124m worth of debt from the club in January. Not for the first time either.
Still, it’s hard to see past two relegations in three years, especially the meek and mild manner of this season. A new outlook is needed at the King Power Stadium. And that means changes at the highest level.
‘Extremely unprofessional’ - Sam Allardyce slams Harry Winks after midfielder axed from Leicester squad in Ruud van Nistelrooy row
It’s not unfair to ask whether Leicester should begin next season with a new chief executive, a new director of football, a new manager and a whole set of new players.
Fans need hope. They need a reason to get excited. This isn’t about so-called 'entitlement' following the successes in the past ten years, but a wish to see a plan for going-forward. The club claims it’s ambitious, but it won’t be easy to go straight back up again.
Read More on talkSPORT
Two years ago, I wrote: "As much as [the board] all patted themselves on the back during the good times, they must take responsibility during the bad. Lessons must be learned."
I fear they haven’t yet again.
7