What percentage of blame do you apply to those responsible for our demise?

[ajthefox]

I would say Rodgers takes about 60%, the board 30% and the players 10%.

 

We have definitely been mismanaged as a club, but the primary reason for the relegation battle for me has to be with Rodgers. As others have mentioned, perhaps even with Cags and Iversen playing the whole season we'd not be in the mire we are. And obviously so late in the season with the confidence clearly at such a low point it was always going to be a struggle for any new incumbent.

 

The club do bear a decent chunk for their mismanagement of contracts and indecision in terms of keeping Rodgers for too long.

 

10% I think is probably fair for the players because we can't absolve them of responsibility. They've clearly not been in the best situation but they are the ones who get the results (or don't, as the case may be) and they haven't been good enough.

Edited 12 May 2023 by ajthefox

[Bordersfox]

I don't know enough about the hierarchy of the club to apportion blame individually but let's say the executive officers/senior management including the likes of Rudkin, Whelan and Top as owner can be considered distinct elements. 

 

Senior management 60%, they are paid a fortune to get things right and they have, over the last 18 months or so, consistently got things wrong.  No club can make the right decisions all of the time, every decision has risk and reward attached.  But the fundamentals, for example ensuring that many of your players aren't leaving for free at around the same time, have been shockingly bad recently.  Keeping Rodgers when it was clear to all that he needed to go.  Poor recruitment.  The buck must stop with the team paid to steer the club in the short term and strategically through the medium and long term.  

 

Top/King Power 30% - ultimately it's their baby and they've been far too passive.  Yes, they rely on senior management, but there comes a point when as the owner you have to recognise things are going awry and start getting involved or making changes.  

 

Rodgers, and I know this will be unpopular, 10%. The reason I say this for all his latter p1ss poor man management, strange lips and whatever his influence on recruitment is just an employee.  It was always within the club's gift to get rid.  They didn't.  Towards the end it felt like he wanted to be put out of his misery.  In the opinion of many here he should have gone ages ago, the club disagreed and they got that wrong.  The consequences of that lie solely at the feet of senior management and King Power.  

[Babylon]

It's not an easy one to answer, because at the end of the day they let that utter piece of shit stay in charge, and let him bring in his own utter shite team around him, whilst binning off trusted employees at his behest... BUT... I kinda get why they put a lot of faith in him considering the start we had. 

 

I can forgive a lot of things, whilst I don't agree with their decisions, I can at least understand them or understand how hard they are. What I cannot understand and I cannot forgive, is that wa**** rubbishing everyone and everything in the summer, absolving himself of blame constantly, telling the players they aren't good enough. 

 

The summer set the tone for the season, he could have chosen to be positive and bullish, or even go for a siege mentality. But no, it was all about HIM and his image.

 

So I lay 100% at his door.

[Finnegan]

10 minutes ago, TrentFox said:

I hold you, @Ric Flair, 💯 responsible. 😂. For everything. The demise of our club, the war in Ukraine, third world debt, pestilence, famine. The whole shooting match! And all because you told us Daka was good 😖😂

 

Daka is pretty good tbh. 

[Brainy]

Players getting absolutely nowhere near enough of the blame here

[kingcarr21]

5 minutes ago, Babylon said:

It's not an easy one to answer, because at the end of the day they let that utter piece of shit stay in charge, and let him bring in his own utter shite team around him, whilst binning off trusted employees at his behest... BUT... I kinda get why they put a lot of faith in him considering the start we had. 

 

I can forgive a lot of things, whilst I don't agree with their decisions, I can at least understand them or understand how hard they are. What I cannot understand and I cannot forgive, is that wa**** rubbishing everyone and everything in the summer, absolving himself of blame constantly, telling the players they aren't good enough. 

 

The summer set the tone for the season, he could have chosen to be positive and bullish, or even go for a siege mentality. But no, it was all about HIM and his image.

 

So I lay 100% at his door.

You have pretty much summed up my thoughts. The downfall stems from Rodgers and him alone imo 

[egg_fried_rice]

I don’t know how you can apportion >50% to Rodgers when the buck doesn’t stop with him.

 

He clearly is far from blameless, but Rudkin and Top could have put a stop to this months or years ago. Literally with the stroke of a pen. They instead allowed Rodgers’ ego to roost and were clearly in denial (reportedly still are!) about our plight.

 

We’ll never know who thought what behind the scenes, but some stories suggested it was Top who was insistent that Rodgers stayed in post, and ultimately nothing would or wouldn’t happen without his say-so.

 

So for me, as it would with any organisation, the greatest proportion of responsibility lies with the man at the Top.

[UniFox21]

At every level from owner to players, they've failed to do their assigned roles and responsibilities.

Fundamentally what happens on the pitch is the responsibility of the players and coaches, and their success is aided by what happens behind the scenes of the board. I'd say around 40% of the blame to Rodgers and the board, with 20% to the players 

[Fox92]

Top/Board 40%

Rodgers 30%

Players 20%

Rudkin 10%

[BKLFox]

I know everyone wants to blame Rodgers but christ the players have a high % in all this.

Even when Rodgers left we must have had 5 times where 1 of our players has got an assist for a goal against us, Ndidi, Maddison, Faes just 3 players I can think of whilst typing but this has happened through the season I wouldn’t be surprised if it was close to 20 times it’s been shocking & the response for how is that Rodgers fault…well he picks them!!
jeezus christ yes I get it you have an issue with Rodgers but let’s not pretend he’s using a controller to move them around, pass and shoot a manager has very little control once the players cross the line.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Sunshine 1%

Moonlight 3%

Good Times 2%

Rodgers 94%

[TrentFox]

13 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Daka is pretty good tbh. 

At what? 😂

[daddylonglegs]

It became less & less about Rodgers the deeper into his tenure. 

 

He was begging to be sacked for the best part of a year & Top was too much of a pussy to do anything about it. 

 

If you'd have asked me before the world cup, I'd have said 70% Rodgers, 20% the board, 10% the players.

By the time Rodgers left, it was probably closer to 40% Rodgers, 40% the board, 20% the players. 

 

[HankMarvin]

Article today probably not worthy of its own thread 

 

The spectacle of summed up the sorry state of Leicester City's season.

After yet another pitiful display and defeat at , where to slip two points adrift of safety with three games remaining, Maddison said – with typical candour – that Leicester had not been 'hungry enough to want to win the game.'

Few could deny that, and Maddison did not seek to exclude himself from blame. That did not stop the inevitable social media pile-on, though, and instead of stepping away from his phone, the England midfielder went in for another go.

'What is wrong with social media, say 1 thing in an interview straight after a game and it gets taken way out of context,' he wrote on . 'When I say not hungry enough I mean aggressive and on the front foot in duels, not us wanting to win or realising the importance.'

The problem here is that lacking aggression in duels sounds suspiciously like a side without the stomach for the fight – something Leicester have struggled to find throughout the season.

James Maddison attempting to clarify a post-match interview summed up Leicester’s season 

The Foxes are sleepwalking towards Premier League relegation after Monday's loss at Fulham 

Dean Smith's arrival had an initial impact, with Leicester taking five points from games with Wolves, Leeds and Everton. 

But with fixtures against Liverpool and Newcastle to come, that haul looks insufficient and – just seven years after winning the Premier League title – Leicester may already be relegated by the time they take on West Ham on the final day of the campaign.

Here Mail Sport examines how the Foxes – FA Cup winners two years ago – found themselves in this mess.

  

Recruitment

In early August 2021, as chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha carried the Community Shield around the Wembley pitch after the win over Manchester City, Leicester felt like one of the best-run clubs in Europe. Yet this was the summer that marked the start of the slide. 

Leicester committed about £60million on Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare and Jannik Vestergaard, as well as bringing in Ryan Bertrand on a free transfer. No major player was sold.

Leicester have had no return on that investment and the failure to make a significant sale caused problems the following summer, when then-boss Brendan Rodgers feared the players were tiring of his message but was unable to overhaul his squad due to Leicester's Financial Fair Play concerns.

  

Management decisions

Hope for the best while planning for the worst. 

By sticking with Rodgers for so long when he had clearly reached the end of the line, Srivaddhanaprabha – known as 'Khun Top' – did the former but forgot about the latter.

Brendan Rodgers (left) was not backed in the transfer market and Leicester failed to prepare for life after their FA Cup-winning coach before sacking him 

The appointment of Dean Smith on an eight-game deal summed up their fuzzy thinking 

When Rodgers sat down with the hierarchy for a pivotal meeting in January 2022, there were two options: change the coach, or change the players. 

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and the board have made crucial mistakes this season 

Support Rodgers' vision and give the squad the 'healthy shake-up' he felt it needed to stay competitive, or try to move forward with the same group but a different leader. 

Leicester did neither and even when they did sack Rodgers on April 2, there was no plan for what happened next. 

Khun Top and the board hoped coaches Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell could muddle through until the end of the season and when that did not work, they interviewed numerous managers before settling for Smith on an eight-game deal. 

It was fuzzy thinking that did not match the severity of the situation.

  

Appetite

Some sources have even made the suggestion – strongly disputed by senior figures – that Leicester's £95million training ground itself, with its hotel-style rooms, swish dining areas and details tailored to meet a player's every need, had weakened the squad's hunger. 

Rodgers was a stickler for timekeeping but not everyone appeared to feel the same way, with players missing certain appointments and arriving late for others. 

'It's like a holiday camp,' lamented one earlier this season. 

Leicester will feel the benefits of this superb facility in years to come but at present, it looks like becoming the best training base in the Championship.

There is also a feeling - strongly denied by senior figures at the club - that Leicester players are treating their new £95million training facility 'like a holiday camp' 

Leicester spent £95m on their new training complex - but it could be Championship-bound 

  

Future

'Sleepwalking towards relegation' was a phrase directed at Leicester as far back as last autumn but they have still not woken up. 

Maddison and Harvey Barnes will both be sold if the Foxes go down but that will not plug all the financial holes created by dropping out of the Premier League and there will have to be severe cuts to the wage bill across the club. 

If they somehow survive, Leicester will likely move for Graham Potter, long admired and out of work since leaving Chelsea in April. But Potter would surely not want to work in the second tier, meaning Leicester would either stick with Smith or move for a younger boss like Russell Martin of Swansea. 

Yet however the season ends, this campaign has been a lesson in how not to do things. These mistakes must never be repeated.

[daddylonglegs]

13 minutes ago, Stinky said:

Players getting absolutely nowhere near enough of the blame here

Agree with this in terms of where we've been at for the last 6 games, but they'd been told for the best part of 3 years by their manager that they weren't up to it in the press. 

 

Confidence was absolutely on the floor, so I've given them an easy ride. 

Recently though their attitude has been pathetic, hence blame rising for them since Rodgers left.

[Mickyblueeyes]

27 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...you have got to say 100% Khun Top!!!

Rodgers does not come away from this smelling like roses in my scenario, but no matter how poor and poisonous Rodgers was, and he was, Khun Top had the opportunity to shut it down at anytime, and he chose not to do so.

I’m with this. This 100% with the board and especially Top. Unacceptable from them. Rodgers was effectively a middle manager failing for so long. He continued doing what he wanted but the power remained with the board, the owner. 
 

And that is what worries me about our future. 

[Bozman]

100% The owner, everyone else is an employee, that's how business works..

[It'sblueupnorth]

90% Top/ownership, 10% Rodgers. Rodgers has destroyed the club and ruined anything good o the playing side, but the board could see what was happening 18months ago like the fans could. They let an egotistical little man say whatever he wanted to the press crying about how he’d not been hacked and saw him ostracise and alienate 50m players but instead of backing him they watched him play political games with them like bringing youth players on instead of players like Iheanacho when chasing the game. They watched and did nothing until it was far too late. 
 

If he was sacked when he should have been after that forest cup game debacle we have been in a better position, but the boards lack of action until 7 games to go is bordering on negligence. They are reaping what they sow, Vichai wouldn’t have let the little tosser get away with what he did but this board are incompetent and inept without him, they are fully to blame 

[CosbehFox]

Board 65%. When they committed to allowing Rodgers the power to start bringing in his own medical staff and Congerton as the recruitment guy, they took away their ability to critically appraise the situation. 

Edited 12 May 2023 by CosbehFox

[fox_up_north]

Sod relegation, I want to know more about these cheeseburger pasties. 

[The Doctor]

55 minutes ago, Oldfox67 said:

Quite obviously 42

ah, Rodgers height in inches, got it.

[Kitchandro]

100% Top. He is the boss. Rodgers is one of the worst things to happen to this club in a very long time, but remove him 18 months ago and replace him with a progressive, decent manager and none of this happens.

 

You can’t ‘blame’ Rodgers for being a narcissistic sociopath, that’s his nature. It’s Top’s fault for falling for it.

[Le Renard]

You could argue it is 100% on the board, they do the hiring and firing.  But I will break with mathematical logic and say it is 100% on Rodgers, 100% on the board, and 100% on the players = 300%.  I know it makes 33.33 % each, but I'm so pissed off with all of them, so 300% just feels right due to how I'm feeling about the way our club has been run these last couple of years.

[Lambert09]

60% rudkin - after all he has had the final say on football based decisions. Whether that was allowing for medical staff to leave. not forcing a set piece specialist on rodgers earlier. Allowing rodgers to make some horrific signings. And coming up with the strategy to overpay everyone was always going to bite us eventually,  The training regimes that allowed for so many players to get injured including our youth was not addressed or at least not quick enough and even our youth team players have grown frustrated with the club for that. 

 

20% rodgers- sounds small but most of the damage he did could and should have been stopped much sooner in the process. If i give my toddler a can of paint i can’t complain when he paints the Tv. He did so much damage but we let him. My honest opinion is that he was hoping and expecting to get sacked, the club were oblivious and kept him. I think that’s why we had a very large switch in form starting at forest. I think he had downed tools and thought that after spurs it was impossible they could keep him… but they did… again he did the same for brighton … again he kept his job. I think he realized the club didn’t care and he could do whatever so knuckled down and got some results. Perhaps a realization of the damage his own reputation was getting. Eventually, his flaws came back to bite him and we slumped yet again. but back to my analogy, if i gave a toddler a can of paint again and he promised not to paint the tv, sure he might actually paint a picture or two.   but if i keep giving him the paint eventually the dog will be blue. 

 

20% Top- I think loyalty is rare and is generally a good trait. I think sticking with people who in his opinion have done well for him in the past isn’t a terrible thing. The blame for top is that he’s just been so naive. we’ve seen the issues for a long time so why can’t he. He needed to step up and be more authoritative and hold people accountable… he hasn’t. And of course he should have been the one getting rid of rodgers long before. I think people have taken advantage of his loyalty and that’s sad to see but after all it does fall on him. 

i was torn to whether that makes him 100% culpable or not… but i think him showing faith in the people he pays to make these decisions isn’t completely terrible. You do have to trust a process and it’s worked for us in the past. But focusing on big picture items and. or the smaller picture stuff is what’s done us. 

 

Edited 12 May 2023 by Lambert09

[kingfox]

As my maths is shite, I’m not going to break it down into percentages, but the blame is a collective issue between Top, Rudkin, Congerton, Rodgers & the players.

 

Top - He’s done more good than bad for this football club, but this season he made one simple grave mistake, and that’s holding onto Rodgers for far too long. He needed to be more ruthless.

 

Rudkin - I’m not the best guy to talk about his role at the club, but throughout his Leicester career his reputation has been like a rollercoaster, right now his reputation is at it’s lowest ebb. 
 

Congerton - Came with a shit reputation and it’s no surprise our recruitment went downhill when he was appointed. Of course he had a scouting team behind him, but his parting gift was a transfer window that consisted of Daka, Soumare, Vestergaard & Bertrand. 
 

Rodgers - He instilled a negative mindset with the turning point being the FA Cup defeat to Forest. Also for the past two season’s, his brand of football became incredibly stale. The fans could see what was happening, shame it took about a year longer for the board to see it.
 

The players - I’ve described them as naive for years and they continue to be naive. A squad full of mentally weak players who lack leadership.

 

From the outside looking in, it’s as if the club took one massive gamble and started operating like a cemented top six club, it’s as if the two fifth placed finishes went to their heads. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if the players had some kind of wage boost because of the two fifth placed finishes, either that or players agents got into the ears of the board demanding higher wages because their clients had secured European football. 
 

Regarding players contracts, especially when it comes to Tielemans & Soyuncu, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if the board gambled in hope of securing European football again, with the hope that certain players would then sign new contracts because European football was secured.

 

But as we’ve seen, all it takes is one bang average season, mixed in with some shit recruitment, for the cards to come tumbling down. A club like ourselves simply have to remain consistent when operating in this way, we haven’t remained consistent which has now left us in the shit.