Restless natives fear the Rodgers empire is nearing point of collapse
THE emperor of Leicester stands stoic on the balcony of his beautiful villa, contemplating his response to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
These are difficult times. An era of setbacks. Yet his self-belief remains unshaken.
The dream of embarking on an elite European campaign remains very much alive, he tells himself.
You are Brendan blooming Rodgers. This is your destiny.
Just then, a messenger brings news from the Continent. The widest grin in football fades, the eyes narrow.
Drawing upon his deep love of Shakespeare, the manager of Leicester City cries out: “Et tu, Court of Arbitration for Sport? Infamy, infamy. They’ve all got it infamy…’
There is, of course, no truth in the rumour that Rodgers has already lodged an appeal against yesterday’s CAS verdict on Manchester City’s interpretation of UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations.
Yet, when it comes to securing a Champions League place for next season, persuading the famously-slow Swiss court to overturn their painstakinglydeliberated decision might just represent Leicester’s best bet.
Former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Craig Burley believes the Foxes are odds-on to ‘crack’ under the pressure.
Ex-Leicester player Matt Piper puts it even more bluntly, insisting that his old club have ‘thrown the Champions League away.’ One win in seven games since Project Restart points to a calamitous crash.
Now that Manchester City are not to be excluded from UEFA’s top competition, only a top-four finish will secure Champions League qualification. Fifth won’t be good enough.
Yet, it should not have come to this. When play was suspended in March, Rodgers’ men were sitting comfortably in third place, five points clear of Chelsea and a full eight ahead of Manchester United.
Following last night’s dramatic draw with Southampton, Ole
Gunnar Solskjaer’s men remain fifth on goal difference, but they look to have an easier run-in.
Against this bleak backdrop, fans are questioning Rodgers (below) on everything from his substitutions to his emphasis on possession football, demanding changes to selection and expressing a desire to get the ball forward more quickly.
And so the man who left Celtic for something ‘bigger and better’, the coach who thought he could return to the glamour of the Premier League without giving up the Champions League exposure virtually guaranteed in Glasgow, may not get to enjoy the best of both worlds, after all.
As Burley put it yesterday: ‘Look, Leicester have lost their mojo. There’s no doubt about that.
‘They look fallible at the back. They haven’t dominated in the middle of the park, like they did at the beginning of the season.
‘They were very flexible in there with Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans.
‘And the wide players, Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes, they were always a real threat, getting on the front foot.
‘When they weren’t a threat, Jamie Vardy was killing teams in behind. But it’s really been a struggle for them.
‘I said a while back, with Manchester United’s form and Manchester United’s fixtures, which are equally important, that no one was going to hand Leicester or Chelsea a place in the Champions League.
‘Because United are on the front foot, they’ve been rolling over the poorer teams in the Premier League. That’s the way the fixtures have fallen.
‘Now, all of a sudden, it’s Leicester City and Chelsea who are under pressure.
‘And Leicester City, at the moment, look like the team who are going to crack.’
With in-form Sheffield United, also chasing a Champions League place, visiting the King Power Stadium on Thursday night, things are not going to get much easier.
Spurs away followed by Manchester United at home to round off the season?
Reflecting on Sunday’s embarrassing 4-1 loss at strugglers Bournemouth and the impact of yet another defeat, Piper, who came through the ranks at the club before leaving for Sunderland, insisted: ‘If we play like that, we’ll lose all three games left.
‘We have more or less thrown the Champions League away. I always try to stay positive, composed — and err on the side of caution before laying into this team and the management.
‘If we finish in the top six, people will look back on it in years to come and say: “Oh, that wasn’t a bad season”.
‘But we had the Champions League in our grasp. And for whatever reason — I don’t know if the pressure has told — it seems they’ve thrown that all away. ‘What could have been an unbelievable season now looks like a bit of a damp squib.
‘Of course it has angered a lot of people. ‘It was like this whole season unravelling in front of our eyes.’ The locals of Leicestershire are up in arms, certainly. They are demanding better, hurling criticism at the leader who arrived full of such promise. North of Hadrian’s Wall? Well, members of one particular greenand-white tribe can hardly stand up for laughing at their former governor’s sudden collapse.