After finishing eighth in the Premier League in 2022 and reaching the Conference League semi-finals, then manager Brendan Rodgers warned the club needed to alter their expectations.
Covid had a big impact on King Power – the duty-free retailer owned by Vichai – as airline travel halted.
The ripples were still being felt and, after an eight-game winless start to 2022-23, Rodgers said Leicester needed to focus on reaching 40 points.
It was a stark contrast to previous declarations from the former Liverpool boss, who spoke frequently about disrupting the established order in the Premier League.
Leicester came close to doing it, missing out on the Champions League on the final day of successive seasons in 2020 and 2021.
Under Rodgers they also won the FA Cup – beating Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea – but the decline quickly took hold amid a lack of quality investment.
So while Leicester tried to stay still, they ended up tumbling backwards.
They still boasted a team including internationals such as Jamie Vardy, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans but Rodgers was dismissed in April 2023 with the club in the bottom three. Former Aston Villa and Norwich boss Dean Smith came in but was unable to save them.
In the thee years since Rodgers left, Leicester have had seven managers, with sources questioning the decision-making as the Foxes have lurched from style to style with no identity.
They went from Smith to Enzo Maresca, who at least took them to the Championship title in 2024, to Steve Cooper – after a failed move for Graham Potter – to Ruud van Nistelrooy, who won just five of his 27 games.
Marti Cifuentes was appointed in July – Van Nistelrooy finally sacked once Leicester entered a new financial year – and was expected to pick up the pieces with the same damaged squad.
Cifuentes had them 14th – six points from the play-offs – when he was axed in January.
That decision looks worse the more time passes, and there were internal frustrations over the delay in replacing him, with former Foxes defender Gary Rowett eventually appointed 24 days later – having been sacked by relegation rivals Oxford in December.
Under Rowett, Leicester have fallen further, and the six-point deduction for breaching EFL financial rules in February left them out of the relegation zone only on goal difference.
Sources indicated there was a ‘we will be fine’ culture at the club – something that pervaded the club’s relegation from the Premier League in 2023.
Insiders were stunned at the poor level of performance in Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth, after which midfielder Harry Winks became involved in an ugly row with fans as he boarded the team coach.
Winks was booed onto the pitch against Hull when he came on as a second-half substitute.
Source:
www.bbc.com
