The Demise

[SamA27]

For a long time (often while running) I have gone through what has happened over the last few years. I feel like the mainstream media/wider football world haven't just realised what has happened. I have finally written it all down from my head onto paper. Wonder what thoughts are, if it's all correct, anything to add:

 

I am a long-time season ticket holder at Leicester City and still don't believe the wider football world and media have really understood or reviewed what has happened to Leicester City over the last 4-5 years.

 

This year we seemed to have been grouped together with the other promoted sides as part of a group that claims it's hard to come up from the Championship and compete in the Premier League. We are unrelated to this narrative; our downfall is due to mismanagement by the club's hierarchy over the last few years.

 

Firstly, let's start with the Brendan Rodgers era, which brought some of the best times as a fan. Winning the FA Cup, traveling around Europe, and success in the Premier League. Finishing 5th in both the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons, we were genuinely starting to be considered one of the top 6-7 sides. In the summer of 2022, Rodgers had said quite openly that we needed a squad refresh to keep going. We made no signings, and it became apparent that we were struggling with FFP (Financial Fair Play) regulations. This was the first major sign of people at the top not running things correctly. We gambled on Champions League/European football with our player wages and finished 8th, missing out on European qualification by four points.

 

We went into the 2022/23 season with the 7th highest wage bill in the Premier League, no new players, and a manager who increasingly started to look unhappy. We lost Schmeichel in the summer to get him off the wage bill, and Fofana messed us around, not playing until deadline day. This meant we didn't sign a new center-back. We also didn't sign a new keeper, and Danny Ward was thrust in. We started the season horribly, though we picked up form before the World Cup. We made some dreadful signings in January to try and get us out of difficulties. However, we ended up going down by 1 point on the last day. Maddison's penalty miss against Everton a few weeks earlier really was the turning point. Here we are, having broken FFP rules, being relegated, paying Rodgers' leaving fee, and with the 7th highest wage bill. Players on ridiculous wages were happy to sit and not play.

 

That summer, we had to get rid of our assets: Maddison and Barnes left for fees below their real value. Tielemans left on a free because he didn't sign a new contract. The club said there would be an internal review that summer, and apparently, it happened, but fans heard nothing about it. We were very close to appointing Scott Parker, but at the last minute, Maresca was interviewed and impressed so much that he got the job. Again, the board didn't plan for this; they got lucky.

 

Last season in the Championship was fun from a fan's perspective, as Enzo seemed to bring back some optimism. I do feel a bit sorry for the club that Enzo did so well and looked like he was building something, then Chelsea came along and pinched him. He seemed more for the fans than the board and didn't like how things were run. We had local lads doing well for us, like KDH. Looking back, we should have walked the league, but it did get tight, though we got the job done. We finished with 92 points but not without drama. However, now we have found out we broke the rules again!

 

Last summer, with an impending points deduction, we went for Steve Cooper, as he was the only capable manager who wanted the job. Nothing against Cooper as a person, but it was never the right fit. Going from Enzo ball to his style wasn't suitable. We had tons of Premier League experience, but Cooper kept saying all summer that we needed more, so he brought in the likes of Jordan Ayew, Oliver Skipp (£22 million!!), and one of the worst signings ever, Bobby De Cordova Reid. All three of these signings have been awful, and don't get me started on Odsonne Edouard; he played four times, wasn't in the squad, and cost £8 million! Sacking Cooper was right; we were going nowhere with him—no game plan, just a hope that Vardy might score.

 

Then came Ruud, and there was optimism with him. Fans thought we would be scoring and would use the youth we have in the squad. But no, it's been a disaster. He wasn't backed in January, and we didn't score at home for four months, going over 12 home matches without a goal. We played the same team week in and week out. Absolutely dire. The season is over now; we knew our fate in January. The club hasn't issued any statement on the relegation, we have another looming points deduction, Vardy has left, and we have no idea who the manager is going to be or what will happen with the squad.

 

This club was seen as the best-run club in the country only a few years ago; we made it to a European semi-final! (2019-20 UEFA Europa League). Now we are in dire circumstances. We have a large, loud voice among fans asking for change or anything from the club. But nothing, and people are starting to just lose interest. You have a lot of fans I sit with, often older ones, who won't hear a bad word about the hierarchy and seem to happily overlook the problems. John Rudkin, in any other industry, would have lost his job years ago. He has overseen the demise of something great. We have broken the rules multiple times, lost so much money, and don't see any change. They treat the fans poorly. Top, the owner who took over from his late father, seems not to know what he is doing because he is advised by the person he needs to fire, Rudkin, the same man who runs his horse racing empire and other ventures at King Power.

 

The fans want some kind of change, but we hear nothing. They don't do interviews or even release club statements anymore. It is so sad what has happened to my club. Modern football and the Premier League are dreadful for a match-going fan now, and with this also happening, people are losing interest in the sport.

Edited 31 May 2025 by SamA27

[Nick]

I think that's a fair executive summary of where we are, yes.

[Kitchandro]

2 things can be true at once, real life is nuanced.

 

Yes the club is run extremely poorly in almost every aspect.

 

And no, Rodgers was not speaking accurately or honestly when he was claiming he wasn’t backed. In fact it’s obvious to me that we threw all the money we had on him and his scouting ideas, which didn’t pay off and led to our downfall. We did need a refresh - we needed to sack him, Rudkin and Congerton and learn how to scout better players, managers and…scouts.

 

Clearly our recruitment has been horrendous, but no one can say we weren’t backed financially. The issue is we backed fools to spend the money - Rudkin, Rodgers, Congerton, Cooper.

 

My biggest gripe over the last 5 years in the media narrative is that Rodgers got a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, it was the opposite.

[BillyFOX12]

When we lost Schmeichel ...

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

2 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

In fact it’s obvious to me that we threw all the money we had on him and his scouting ideas, which didn’t pay off and led to our downfall. We did need a refresh - we needed to sack him, Rudkin and Congerton and learn how to scout better players, managers and…scouts.

Absolutely this. Rodgers inherited a great squad and rode the crest of a wave for a time, but his own recruitment was abysmal and we’ve never recovered. And he has history - just ask Liverpool fans. It’s still a dead weight around our neck.

[Blue.Fox84]

2 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

2 things can be true at once, real life is nuanced.

 

Yes the club is run extremely poorly in almost every aspect.

 

And no, Rodgers was not speaking accurately or honestly when he was claiming he wasn’t backed. In fact it’s obvious to me that we threw all the money we had on him and his scouting ideas, which didn’t pay off and led to our downfall. We did need a refresh - we needed to sack him, Rudkin and Congerton and learn how to scout better players, managers and…scouts.

 

Clearly our recruitment has been horrendous, but no one can say we weren’t backed financially. The issue is we backed fools to spend the money - Rudkin, Rodgers, Congerton, Cooper.

 

My biggest gripe over the last 5 years in the media narrative is that Rodgers got a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, it was the opposite.

This is one of the biggest things for me, as time as gone on Rodgers has slowly started to look like the Saint in all of this when ultimately a lot of his failings was the start to it all

 

I think as a club we gambled big hoping it would pay off without realising the infrastructure was falling apart within - staff at the top have left who was apart of build and also members behind the scenes have gone from analysis, groundsman etc 

 

The 5th place finishes was a failure in my opinion especially considering the position we were in during the season and the gamble we had took - we had done well with the sales of Mahrez and Maguire but when we’ve spent consecutive transfer windows signing players at £20-30m it’s clear what the ambition was to achieve 

 

Falling to act quicker with Rodgers once he clearly lost interest in the job and started to create his excuses was a failure - begrudgingly pay the reported £5m compo and retain PL status. Failing to act on the £5m has ultimately cost the club millions, we’ve lost PL money, sold players at reduced fees, overpaid on wages for players we can’t get rid of which continues to mount FFP charges with possible points deductions now and have also seen £100’s of millions of talent walk away from the club for free as there is clearly no longer any form of direction or project here for a player to be interested to be apart

 

We have one of the best training ground facilities in the country, only Leicester can build something that could arguably be too big and fail to build any form of project when in such a strong position to attract players - other clubs are catching up and Seagrave will be no more attractive that majority of the league soon too so our only real ‘selling point’ will quickly become a huge financial risk that resulted in no advantage to the club. 

[orangecity23]

Vestergaard is a great symbol of how disfunctional the recruitment under Rodgers was:

 

Needed a centre back due to Fofana being injured

Had an ongoing issue of conceeding lots of goals from corners

So the genius level thinking probably went:

"We were fine when we had Maguire. Find me something like Maguire. Vestergaard is tall and can pass - just like Maguire. Perfect."

Phones up Vestergaard to butter him up and convince him to sign

He arrives

Rodgers realises Vestergaard is way too slow to play a high defensive line, immediately kicks him to the kerb and doesn't use him for the next 2 years, flushing 15 million down the drain for no useful purpose.

 

How was it a surpise to him that Vestergaard was incredibly slow? Anyone who had ever seen him play in the prem was obviously aware of this - it's blatently clear after seeing him play even once. How could you not realise this? If you were so wedded to the idea of a high defensive line, why did you need tall centrebacks (rather than pacy ones) in the first place - except to cover the fact you were abysmally crap at coaching organisation at defensive corners (was Souttar another attempt to stick a 6 foot 6 sticking plaster over this glaring weakness - one that largely went away when the club finally employed a set piece specialist coach to sort it out)

 

Perez was signed for massive money to play out of position on the right wing, instead of just getting an actual right winger in.

Praet was bought in, then sidelined, then loaned out, then used again, then left on a bosman.

Soyuncu was sidelined and left on a bosman.

 

This bad recruitment, coupled with the fact we seem to be extra-ordinarily bad at negotiating any kind of deal, whether it be incoming, outgoing or contract wise had put us ina  position where the Prfit and sustainability regulations were at risk of being breached - but instead of doing the bare minimum to get the least punishment possible whilst maintaining the competitiveness of the club, we have completely destroyed our squad, lost almost every player of any value and loaded up on duffers. It cannot be stressed enough - we were so worried about a PR points deduction - which might have relegated us if we got one, that instead we set off down a path than has, instead, relegated us twice. And then failed PSR anyway. Because we couldn't "afford" to keep Kasper, or sack Rodgers - we've been relegated, which seems to knock about 40% off the entire turnover of the club. That certainly doesn't sound very profitable or sustainable to me. We were a lot more sustainable when we were a top 10 prem club before we decided to start "trying" to comply. Right now we look more likely to become like Stoke City.

[Guy]

29 minutes ago, Blue.Fox84 said:

This is one of the biggest things for me, as time as gone on Rodgers has slowly started to look like the Saint in all of this when ultimately a lot of his failings was the start to it all

 

I think as a club we gambled big hoping it would pay off without realising the infrastructure was falling apart within - staff at the top have left who was apart of build and also members behind the scenes have gone from analysis, groundsman etc 

 

The 5th place finishes was a failure in my opinion especially considering the position we were in during the season and the gamble we had took - we had done well with the sales of Mahrez and Maguire but when we’ve spent consecutive transfer windows signing players at £20-30m it’s clear what the ambition was to achieve 

 

Falling to act quicker with Rodgers once he clearly lost interest in the job and started to create his excuses was a failure - begrudgingly pay the reported £5m compo and retain PL status. Failing to act on the £5m has ultimately cost the club millions, we’ve lost PL money, sold players at reduced fees, overpaid on wages for players we can’t get rid of which continues to mount FFP charges with possible points deductions now and have also seen £100’s of millions of talent walk away from the club for free as there is clearly no longer any form of direction or project here for a player to be interested to be apart

 

We have one of the best training ground facilities in the country, only Leicester can build something that could arguably be too big and fail to build any form of project when in such a strong position to attract players - other clubs are catching up and Seagrave will be no more attractive that majority of the league soon too so our only real ‘selling point’ will quickly become a huge financial risk that resulted in no advantage to the club. 

Meanwhile the likes of BDCR and Ayew have surely just come here for a lucrative late pay day, knowing they are both well past their best! If they are a part of the team that that gets us straight back up then I'll drop my charges but I can't see that scenario playing out at all at the mo. regardless of how crap the Championship is! 

[Blue.Fox84]

2 hours ago, Guy said:

Meanwhile the likes of BDCR and Ayew have surely just come here for a lucrative late pay day, knowing they are both well past their best! If they are a part of the team that that gets us straight back up then I'll drop my charges but I can't see that scenario playing out at all at the mo. regardless of how crap the Championship is! 

Come here for a lucrative pay day and stinks of a club with no guidance or direction. The ignorance and incompetence from the top is astonishing, how we have gone from being one of the most respected and envied teams to a complete laughing stock is painful

 

Every club has its flaws but I can’t think of many teams who have been as poorly managed as ourselves 

[The Year Of The Fox]

9 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

2 things can be true at once, real life is nuanced.

 

Yes the club is run extremely poorly in almost every aspect.

 

And no, Rodgers was not speaking accurately or honestly when he was claiming he wasn’t backed. In fact it’s obvious to me that we threw all the money we had on him and his scouting ideas, which didn’t pay off and led to our downfall. We did need a refresh - we needed to sack him, Rudkin and Congerton and learn how to scout better players, managers and…scouts.

 

Clearly our recruitment has been horrendous, but no one can say we weren’t backed financially. The issue is we backed fools to spend the money - Rudkin, Rodgers, Congerton, Cooper.

 

My biggest gripe over the last 5 years in the media narrative is that Rodgers got a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, it was the opposite.

The only thing the board has got right over the last 4 years was them refusing to financially back Rodgers any further. 

Edited 1 June 2025 by The Year Of The Fox

[Jazzy_Jeff]

It’s the combination of not selling YT for big money after the cup final win and reinvesting well as we had done previously and then having an absolute howler in the market the season after.

 

If we would have sold Youri for £50-60m, which was realistic at the time we could have had broken even that window and still been stronger for it. Instead we let him go down to 1yr of contract left and signed Soumare, Daka and Vestergaard for a hefty loss.

 

That ruined the following season meaning we couldn’t replace Schmeichel and had to shop in the bargain aisle in January. 
 

Regardless of who comes in as manager we need to bring someone new in to oversee transfers as in the last 3/4 years there have been a lot more misses than hits.

[mazarron fox]

All of the above is a very good assessment of where it went wrong. Sadly as they say we are where we are, back to where we started. We need to rebuild, refocus and have clear plan moving forward. Sadly I think this is beyond the current internal management structure we have in place. Until that changes nothing will!

[Iwebema]

I'm just echoing what a lot of you have so eloquently put here, for me it's always been a combination of laziness and incompetence.

 

The constant belief that everything will be fine so we just stand still.

 

Didn't strengthen the squad to make the champions league when we could.

 

Too loyal to Rodgers in every aspect and followed him without question in the mire.

 

Couldn't be arsed to get involved in complex sales discussions or contract negotiations with talent that eventually left on a free, this in particular always drove me crazy, I always used to say to my friends, do they think that Thai loyalty extends both ways because football is ruthless and you cant run a business like that.

 

I know @moore_94 put together a long list of failings a while ago and when you read them and then say to youself the only people who faced the consequences of such an epic list of failure is the fans having to sit through it all, its very difficult to take. At least I think its difficult to take even if some believe the current regime can do no wrong.

[Vacamion]

 

 

Remember when Rodgers was reduced to playing Wilf and /or Big Dan Amartey as CBs, cos he had fallen out with Soyuncu, and wouldn't play Vesty, cos he realised only after spaffing a fortune on him that he was slower than nail growth and not even that good in the air for a giant?

 

All in front of Ward.

 

Fun times.

 

Insert "Masterclass" meme.

 

 

[Chelmofox]

9 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

 

Remember when Rodgers was reduced to playing Wilf and /or Big Dan Amartey as CBs, cos he had fallen out with Soyuncu, and wouldn't play Vesty, cos he realised only after spaffing a fortune on him that he was slower than nail growth and not even that good in the air for a giant?

 

All in front of Ward.

 

Fun times.

 

Insert "Masterclass" meme.

 

 

Remember when he would play Ndidi there. 

[Haywood_6]

Solid summary, sadly if you stand still in this game you get overtaken and that's exactly what's happened. The summer where we made NO signings at all was telling for me. It wasn't just bad luck - it was the result of overpaying for players and giving out inflated wages. We basically handcuffed ourselves with FFP. That was a massive warning sign for me and from them on the decline was rapid. No team can afford to stand still in the PL. The most frustrating part is that we’ve basically undone a decade’s worth of progress. Winning major trophies and being a stable top-10 PL club to where we are now — it honestly feels like we’ve reset back to 2013. All that smart recruitment, structure, and momentum we had when we were the envy of the football world is long gone, and we’re having to start again. It’s a real shame 

[Vacamion]

31 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 was reduced to playing Wilf 

 

 

 

20 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Remember when he would play Ndidi there. 

 

 

[Chelmofox]

12 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

 

 

Im angry ok!!!!!!

[Tielemans63]

19 hours ago, SamA27 said:

Then came Ruud, and there was optimism with him. Fans thought we would be scoring and would use the youth we have in the squad

This is the only thing I disagree with you on. I think the majority of fans could see that RvN was a poor choice from a mile off. Nothing on his CV suggested he was what we needed at the time.

[Gloria]

The timing of losing Vichai (🙏) and our demise is no coincidence. 

[Guy]

11 hours ago, Blue.Fox84 said:

Come here for a lucrative pay day and stinks of a club with no guidance or direction. The ignorance and incompetence from the top is astonishing, how we have gone from being one of the most respected and envied teams to a complete laughing stock is painful

 

Every club has its flaws but I can’t think of many teams who have been as poorly managed as ourselves 

Agreed, I just hope we're not the next Reading in the making if the rumours of a double figure points deduction for next season are to be believed! 

[OntarioFox]

5 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

 

Remember when Rodgers was reduced to playing Wilf and /or Big Dan Amartey as CBs, cos he had fallen out with Soyuncu, and wouldn't play Vesty, cos he realised only after spaffing a fortune on him that he was slower than nail growth and not even that good in the air for a giant?

 

All in front of Ward.

 

Fun times.

 

Insert "Masterclass" meme.

 

 

If you don't laugh, you'll cry.

 

Thanks, I'm crying.

[Gamble92]

I wrote a note in my diary on the way here too

 

Simply says "bugger"

[OntarioFox]

49 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

I wrote a note in my diary on the way here too

 

Simply says "bugger"

I'd honestly rather have Baldrick as DoF right now. His cunning plan surely can't be any worse than Rudkin's.

[cunningplan]

1 hour ago, OntarioFox said:

I'd honestly rather have Baldrick as DoF right now. His cunning plan surely can't be any worse than Rudkin's.

I’m ready to go