Project Reset: Why Leicester City fans are taking action

On Saturday 15th February 2025, Leicester City fans will take to the streets to voice their frustrations with the club.

To many outside of the club, Leicester City are exactly where they are expected to be this season – fighting for survival.

The notion that Leicester fans are entitled for expecting better on-field performances entirely misses the point.

Let’s explore five reasons why.

1. Absence of Trust

Trust is the foundation of any successful team, but at Leicester City, trust between fans, players and those running the club has eroded with time. Key to this breakdown is the sustained lack of transparency, come rain or shine – and let’s be honest, it’s been mostly rain in recent years.

The hierarchy operates behind closed doors, seeming to rely on leaked messages to journalists to distribute narratives instead of real, direct communication with supporters.

When the club was succeeding on the pitch, this approach was odd – but tolerated. Some even referenced this as a model for other clubs to follow – seen but not heard, let results on the pitch do the talking.

Fans understood that discretion and stability were a major part of King Power’s leadership philosophy. However, in a period of persistent instability and declining results, this continued silence has become unforgivable as the club appears lacking in direction and vision.

It fuels the perception that fans are, at best, expected to be devoted cheerleaders – regardless of what the grand plan might be. At worst, some fans now feel like they are merely profit centres.

With a lack of clear guidance from the hierarchy, fans are left guessing. Decisions appear reactionary, inconsistent and without reference to any clear guiding principles that fans can buy into.

The same unchecked errors appear to repeat themselves:

• Inconsistent managerial appointments and, historically, too much loyalty to failing managers

• A player trading strategy that lurches from one extreme to another depending on the manage
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• A failure to astutely manage player contracts, leading to fringe players on long, lucrative deals while key assets run their contracts down

This frustration is compounded by the fact that Leicester City once had a clear recruitment model that fans could understand – even if it was difficult to accept at times.

The marquee disposal strategy – where the club sold one high-value player per season to fund further reinvestment – was again heralded by some as a successful model for so-called ‘challenger’ clubs. It allowed the club to reinvest sustainably and incrementally, while maintaining competitiveness.

However, its fragility was fully exposed in 2021/22, when the club failed to sell Youri Tielemans for a fee, marking a damaging trend – whereby the club would rather lose assets for nothing than accept a deal deemed below perceived market value. For many, this marked the start of the downfall.

Trust cannot exist in a vacuum. Without transparency, communication and clear direction, trust between club and supporters is impossible.

2. Fear of Conflict

Healthy conflict breeds accountability and better decision-making. But Leicester City’s centralised footballing leadership – the day-to-day overseen by Jon Rudkin with big decisions reportedly requiring approval from Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha – is fragile and highly dependent on their continued sound judgment.

Aiyawatt (Top), still only 39, inherited the responsibility of running the King Power empire after his father’s tragic passing in 2018. This premature and unwanted promotion is also acknowledged as a key turning point for Leicester City.

Put simply, when Leicester lost Vichai, the club lost a hands-on, pragmatic leader with a clear vision and, crucially, the means to ruthlessly pursue that vision.

Vichai was renowned not just for his generosity and loyalty, but also for his tough-minded decision-making – most notably demonstrated through the sacking of Claudio Ranieri just months after winning the Premier League.

His tenure was defined by calculated risk-taking and a rare ability to intervene decisively, even when those decisions appeared ruthless and reckless to the outside world.

Another prime example was his handling of Nigel Pearson. Vichai backed him through promotion and stood by him through the great escape, yet when off-field matters became untenable during pre-season, he acted swiftly and removed him. It’s also easy to forget just how unpopular the decision to hire Ranieri was at the time.