Seven years on from the greatest triumph, Leicester’s Premier League fairytale ended in heartbreak and relegation.
They have gone from champions to Championship and those glorious celebrations in 2016 were replaced with tears and despair. Claudio Ranieri’s 500/1 heroes were serenaded by Andrea Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma when they won the title at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester did at least beat West Ham, but it was not enough to save their own skins and, frankly, it ended up being something of an anti-climax lacking in final day drama.
They were safe for all of 23 minutes from when Harvey Barnes put Leicester ahead to when Everton scored their all-important winner which was enough to send the Foxes down.
There were a couple of false alarms in the second half, but that was just cruel and the Leicester players congregated on the pitch round mobile phones after the final whistle at the King Power hoping for a Bournemouth equaliser at Goodison Park. But it never came and the Leicester players just trudged off at the end while the fans were almost split between booing and applause for a season which ended in despair.
Leicester have been allowed to drift to this point because just two years ago they won the FA Cup but the owners did not invest or rebuild the squad.
Now, they are left facing a fire sale this summer as James Maddison appeared to be waving goodbye at the final whistle. You wonder if veteran Jamie Vardy will really fancy a final year of his contract in the Championship. And surely the vultures will come for Barnes and Youri Tielemans.
Sadly they only have themselves to blame because this wonderful story has ended with a horrible twist. They panicked and sacked Brendan Rodgers, did not give caretaker boss Dean Smith enough time and a miracle never really felt possible.
Leicester produced their match day programme with “Foxes Never Quit” on the front cover – but they did throw it in long before the final day. That is the sad truth.
Too many of these players are too good to go down, but have not played like it all season. This was something of a free pass because West Ham had minds on the Europa Conference League next month and Leicester at least kept their part of the bargain.
Kelechi Iheanacho hit the top of the crossbar even before Barnes gave Leicester a 34th minute lead. Barnes played a clever one-two with Iheanacho, Barnes then slipped behind Vladimir Coufal, and the Leicester No7 opened up his body and angled a shot past Lukasz Fabianski and into the far corner.
Leicester fans went wild as they knew Everton’s game with Bournemouth was still goalless – and it remained so until Abdoulaye Doucoure’s winner just before the hour mark. The news filtered through to the fans and the King Power went horribly flat.
Leicester’s players maybe did not realise. Soon after, Tielemans put over a free kick, Wout Faes’ glancing header flew into the far corner and the Belgium centre half celebrated as he did not know his goal was in vain. West Ham got one back but it never actually felt that nervous.
Luke Thomas’ poor pass presented the ball to Danny Ings who released Pablo Fornals and the West Ham forward smashed a 79th minute shot in off the post. That was it. Leicester’s story ended in heartbreak. They. are off to the Championship. And those glory days seem a distant memory.
