Wes Morgan - I am surprised at how far the club has fallen

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/won-premier-league-leicester-city-10344949

 

EXCLUSIVE: Leicester City legend Wes Morgan delivers his verdict on the club's current situation and takes a look back on the Premier League title-winning season, almost 10 years on

ByKieran King
18:30, 14 JUL 2025Updated19:19, 14 JUL 2025

Wes Morgan has warned Leicester City that winning promotion straight back to the Premier League again won't be simple, as he expressed his "disappointment" and "sadness" at the club's current demise.

Leicester legend Morgan, 41, left the Foxes back in 2021 after helping them win the FA Cup. Since then, City have slumped from chasing a Champions League spot to a team that has now been relegated to the Championship twice in three years.

Last season, the Foxes finished 18th in the Premier League after picking up just 25 points from their 38 fixtures. At one point, City went nine matches without scoring a home league goal - an English top flight record.

 

There is no doubt the 2024/25 campaign was one to forget, but optimism is growing - following two pre-season victories - that Leicester can go straight back up. That is despite, of course, the fact City still haven't appointed a new manager and haven't signed any players this summer.

The Foxes won promotion to the Premier League in 2023/24 - the last time they were in the Championship under Enzo Maresca - but Morgan doesn't expect City's second-tier campaign to be as "straightforward" this time around.

Reflecting on Leicester's current predicament, Morgan told LeicestershireLive: "It's been up and down since I left. On the pitch, it's not gone as smooth as they would have liked. There has been some good times, getting to the semi-final in Europe under Brendan Rodgers. The season I left they got to the Community Shield and won it.

"But there has been a lot of disappointment and sadness because when you've reached the heights of Leicester, winning the Premier League, finishing fifth a few times and to have a big massive drop off has been really surprising but disappointing at the same time.

"As a supporter and as a friend and former member of the club, you always want them to do well. They dropped into the Championship and they did well to come back out into the Premier League.

"But last season was really disappointing, they were nowhere near the levels they needed to be. Players didn't perform as well as they should and the consequences were that they were relegated.

"It's going to be tough and I don’t think that it's going to be as straightforward as when Enzo took over in the Championship. At least, the club need to be giving itself the best chance to get out of the league, finishing in the play-offs or finishing in the automatic places."

Morgan spent nine-and-a-half years at the King Power Stadium. He signed in a £1million deal from Nottingham Forest in January 2012 and made 323 appearances during his time at City.

The Nottingham-born defender captained Leicester to the Championship title in 2013/14 before helping them complete one of football's greatest underdog stories two years later.

Despite finishing 14th the season before, City shocked the globe in 2015/16 to WIN the Premier League title. Claudio Ranieri's side ended the campaign on 81 points from their 38 matches, losing just three times.

In August, it will mark 10 years since the start of that infamous title-winning season - a 4-2 success against Sunderland on the opening weekend. Looking back on the size and scale of achievement, Morgan said: "I can't [believe it’s been 10 years]. It still feels like it's yesterday, to say it's 10 years this season is unbelievable.

"It still feels prevalent, it still feels like it was yesterday. I think because it was Leicester and what we achieved, the news and the noise around it is never going to go away anytime soon.

"10 years in, it's still going strong, people still love to talk about the story and still get asked the questions, 'how did it feel to win the Premier League, to lift the trophy and achieve what I achieved?' I love it."

Morgan added: "People seem to forget the season before when we just avoided relegation, so against all odds we produced some unbelievable results and climbed out the relegation zone and survived that season.

"So, the expectation for the 2015/16 season was simply: Let's not be in that detrimental position again and give ourselves a bit more breathing space I think. Going into that season, we were thinking 'let's pick up more results, let's not be fighting in a relegation battle right the way through the season.

"We started off great, we had positive results, we were winning, got to near the top of the league and we stayed there for a long, long time and through to the end.

"I think the feeling throughout was, 'we are doing great, let's just keep it going'. There was never that expectation. September, October, November and December we were flying high at the top of the league, there was never a 'are we going to win the league'.

"I imagine, at some point, for everyone in the team, it would have occurred to them that this was a real thing and we could actually win the league when we played Manchester City away, we beat them 3-1. This was the great Man City and that was when the possibilities really struck with me and I thought 'we could do something special here'. We were near the top and well into the second part of the season, so that's where it struck for me."

Morgan's Leicester career ended in 2021 after he announced his retirement from professional football. His final appearance came as a late substitute as the Foxes won the FA Cup against Chelsea at Wembley.

Reflecting on his time at City as a whole, Morgan continued: "When I went to Leicester, I had the ambition to play at least ONE Premier League game, and I thought 'I could see what's going off at Leicester, they had new owners, had invested a lot and I thought this could be my chance.

"It was a big move but it was a move that I thought was right. And I don't have to explain to you the rest of the story, so much success at Leicester, winning the Premier League, winning the FA Cup, playing in the Champions League, playing in the Europa League, it was one amazing thing after the other. My time at Leicester was only things dreams could be made of."

[BeaumontFox]

24 minutes ago, davieG said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/won-premier-league-leicester-city-10344949

 

EXCLUSIVE: Leicester City legend Wes Morgan delivers his verdict on the club's current situation and takes a look back on the Premier League title-winning season, almost 10 years on

ByKieran King
18:30, 14 JUL 2025Updated19:19, 14 JUL 2025

Wes Morgan has warned Leicester City that winning promotion straight back to the Premier League again won't be simple, as he expressed his "disappointment" and "sadness" at the club's current demise.

Leicester legend Morgan, 41, left the Foxes back in 2021 after helping them win the FA Cup. Since then, City have slumped from chasing a Champions League spot to a team that has now been relegated to the Championship twice in three years.

Last season, the Foxes finished 18th in the Premier League after picking up just 25 points from their 38 fixtures. At one point, City went nine matches without scoring a home league goal - an English top flight record.

 

There is no doubt the 2024/25 campaign was one to forget, but optimism is growing - following two pre-season victories - that Leicester can go straight back up. That is despite, of course, the fact City still haven't appointed a new manager and haven't signed any players this summer.

The Foxes won promotion to the Premier League in 2023/24 - the last time they were in the Championship under Enzo Maresca - but Morgan doesn't expect City's second-tier campaign to be as "straightforward" this time around.

Reflecting on Leicester's current predicament, Morgan told LeicestershireLive: "It's been up and down since I left. On the pitch, it's not gone as smooth as they would have liked. There has been some good times, getting to the semi-final in Europe under Brendan Rodgers. The season I left they got to the Community Shield and won it.

"But there has been a lot of disappointment and sadness because when you've reached the heights of Leicester, winning the Premier League, finishing fifth a few times and to have a big massive drop off has been really surprising but disappointing at the same time.

"As a supporter and as a friend and former member of the club, you always want them to do well. They dropped into the Championship and they did well to come back out into the Premier League.

"But last season was really disappointing, they were nowhere near the levels they needed to be. Players didn't perform as well as they should and the consequences were that they were relegated.

"It's going to be tough and I don’t think that it's going to be as straightforward as when Enzo took over in the Championship. At least, the club need to be giving itself the best chance to get out of the league, finishing in the play-offs or finishing in the automatic places."

Morgan spent nine-and-a-half years at the King Power Stadium. He signed in a £1million deal from Nottingham Forest in January 2012 and made 323 appearances during his time at City.

The Nottingham-born defender captained Leicester to the Championship title in 2013/14 before helping them complete one of football's greatest underdog stories two years later.

Despite finishing 14th the season before, City shocked the globe in 2015/16 to WIN the Premier League title. Claudio Ranieri's side ended the campaign on 81 points from their 38 matches, losing just three times.

In August, it will mark 10 years since the start of that infamous title-winning season - a 4-2 success against Sunderland on the opening weekend. Looking back on the size and scale of achievement, Morgan said: "I can't [believe it’s been 10 years]. It still feels like it's yesterday, to say it's 10 years this season is unbelievable.

"It still feels prevalent, it still feels like it was yesterday. I think because it was Leicester and what we achieved, the news and the noise around it is never going to go away anytime soon.

"10 years in, it's still going strong, people still love to talk about the story and still get asked the questions, 'how did it feel to win the Premier League, to lift the trophy and achieve what I achieved?' I love it."

Morgan added: "People seem to forget the season before when we just avoided relegation, so against all odds we produced some unbelievable results and climbed out the relegation zone and survived that season.

"So, the expectation for the 2015/16 season was simply: Let's not be in that detrimental position again and give ourselves a bit more breathing space I think. Going into that season, we were thinking 'let's pick up more results, let's not be fighting in a relegation battle right the way through the season.

"We started off great, we had positive results, we were winning, got to near the top of the league and we stayed there for a long, long time and through to the end.

"I think the feeling throughout was, 'we are doing great, let's just keep it going'. There was never that expectation. September, October, November and December we were flying high at the top of the league, there was never a 'are we going to win the league'.

"I imagine, at some point, for everyone in the team, it would have occurred to them that this was a real thing and we could actually win the league when we played Manchester City away, we beat them 3-1. This was the great Man City and that was when the possibilities really struck with me and I thought 'we could do something special here'. We were near the top and well into the second part of the season, so that's where it struck for me."

Morgan's Leicester career ended in 2021 after he announced his retirement from professional football. His final appearance came as a late substitute as the Foxes won the FA Cup against Chelsea at Wembley.

Reflecting on his time at City as a whole, Morgan continued: "When I went to Leicester, I had the ambition to play at least ONE Premier League game, and I thought 'I could see what's going off at Leicester, they had new owners, had invested a lot and I thought this could be my chance.

"It was a big move but it was a move that I thought was right. And I don't have to explain to you the rest of the story, so much success at Leicester, winning the Premier League, winning the FA Cup, playing in the Champions League, playing in the Europa League, it was one amazing thing after the other. My time at Leicester was only things dreams could be made of."

We got relegated because we didn’t have any gold on our kit last season. Bad omen.

[ealingfox]

Quite a lot of us aren't surprised at all.

[filbertway]

Concerning for Wes' future in football if he's actually surprised.

 

Or probably not. I think Branston proves that once you're in the game and know people then you're sorted for life if you want to be.

[Fox92]

15 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Concerning for Wes' future in football if he's actually surprised.

 

Or probably not. I think Branston proves that once you're in the game and know people then you're sorted for life if you want to be.

Especially here. We love giving jobs to old players.

 

Mind you, I see a lot of "make him a coach" posts on here based on nothing aside from it's an ex player.

[sylofox]

27 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I think Branston proves that once you're in the game and know people then you're sorted for life if you want to be.

Except Rudkin took Top to the pickle factory.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Welcome to life under the leadership of Top.

[HarryDee8]

I'm glad he's gone and said that.   

 

That should put some pressure on top and rudders!!