Relegation battle, no spending, no direction - It's no fun being a Leicester fan right now

Our incredible Premier League and FA Cup victories will live long in the memories of all the Foxes faithful, but none of us wanted them to just be mere memories, and any further success now looks way off.

Advertisement

Whilst Victor Kristiansen looks set to be the club's first permanent January signing since Fousseni Diabate in 2018, the overall investment in the squad has been almost non-existent for 18 months.

Regardless, it's news that's almost cause for celebration. It's a squad that needs refreshing. Desperately.

Advertisement

With so many injuries and out of form players, Leicester look devoid of ideas in attack and defence. If they don't give it a go before January 31 then relegation looks a very real possibility.

Under Brendan Rodgers, Leicester have splashed around £200million on newcomers, but he has been keen to point out that the overall net spend in his time at the King Power has been closer to £10m.

He's right. The club has sold players including Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell and Wesley Fofana for large sums of money during his time at the club.

But has the cash been spent wisely? You'd have to argue that it largely hasn't. Certainly not in the last couple of years.

Advertisement

Leicester have often been cited as a well-run club and canny in the transfer market.

Following the FA Cup triumph in 2021, Patson Daka, Ryan Bertrand, Boubakary Soumare and Jannik Vestergaard were brought in as permanent captures. Have any of them made a significant impact? We're still waiting.

Rodgers, however, told talkSPORT in August they came in as "cover players".

Advertisement

You also have to look at players who, not so long ago, were being hailed as stars.

Harvey Barnes looks lost, Wilfred Ndidi likewise, Caglar Soyuncu missing, and living legend Jamie Vardy is a shadow of what he used to be.

Was it such a good idea to give him a two-year deal last year? He's just turned 36.

Advertisement

Players are responsible for their personal form but managers have to be responsible for the collective. Rodgers isn't getting the best out of his squad, injury-ravaged or not.

He rightly points to the lack of investment in the playing squad last summer as a contributing factor. Nevertheless, this group of players should be doing better under a manager that prides himself as a coach.

Speaking of contracts, at least 16 players will see theirs come to an end either this summer or next - how was this allowed to happen?

Of those you'd want to keep - how do you go about convincing a James Maddison about the club's ambition? What's the plan beyond this season? Or the next three seasons? We knew it when Rodgers arrived. He wanted to disrupt the established top-six.

Advertisement

Rodgers admitted they're now in a battle against the drop following a fourth straight Premier League defeat.

Simon Jordan criticised this approach on talkSPORT, saying: "It might be the reality, but the question then should be: 'What in God's name, Brendan Rodgers, are you doing?'

"It's a decent-enough squad you've got there, irrespective of injuries or not… Brendan isn't doing a particularly good job."

Advertisement

It's hard to disagree with the overall assessment, although I think it's right for a manager to openly admit to the issue they're facing. You can't bury your head in the sand.

Responsibility doesn't just lie with the manager. The silence from those at the very top of the club is concerning.

The chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, known as 'Top', last communicated to the fans about the direction and strategy of the club, via programme notes, in September.

He addressed the lack of spending in the summer but wrote about the need to be "sustainable" and that "short-term decisions [are needed] that protect the club's long-term interests, such as our approach to this summer's transfer window."

Advertisement

That's all well and good - unless you get relegated.

Leicester aren't alone in not putting up senior management to talk. Some are better than others in the Premier League — albeit with off the record briefings.

talkSPORT has spoken, on the record, with those in power at Everton, Brighton, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and West Ham in the last year or so. The culture elsewhere — in Italy for example, as Antonio Conte pointed out this week — is decidedly different. Sporting directors and those in power speak regularly.

Advertisement

Some might suggest Leicester are returning to what they have always been - an up-and-down, yo-yo club. It feels like the end of a golden era unless changes are made.

Whether you believe that should signal a change of manager is up to you. Regardless, new blood is needed to freshen up a squad that's devoid of confidence and consistency.

I don't expect a challenge for trophies and European places every year. I'm not that naïve or entitled, but I do expect to see a club with direction and leadership.

Advertisement

Leicester aren't the only club with challenges. Fans of Everton and West Ham could just as easily write about their woes.

It's Brighton at the King Power on Saturday. I don't know any supporter that's looking forward to going. There's apathy and a grudging acceptance that defeat is likely.

It just isn't fun being a Leicester City fan anymore.

Keep up to date with all the latest news, rumours and transfer gossip with our LIVE blog