Just to remind everyone that it is only football, the Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh appears from nowhere to lay a bouquet of flowers at the statue of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the late Leicester City owner. Whatever is about to happen at the King Power Stadium, Vichai, killed with four others in a helicopter crash outside the ground in 2018, has given Leicester memories for life. And worse things happen at sea than relegation.
Behind his statue, on a wooden bench, three Leicester fans — Mark Manderfield, Steve Marples and Tom Clarke — are sitting with pints in hand, willing time to pass more quickly. They are podcasters in these parts, hosts of It’s Eleven, It’s Heaven For Jamie Vardy, the man they’re pinning plenty on tonight. We’re here for Leicester City versus Everton, 18th versus 19th with less than a month of the season to go, and it’s queasy stomach time. “I feel a bit sick,” says Marples but then again, isn’t feeling sick the name of the game?
I tell them I’m here from Leeds, rubbernecking the relegation fights consuming two other clubs. Or not exactly rubbernecking because that involves watching from a position of safety when, in reality, Leeds United are very much a part of it as well. A two-hour drive to the north, discussions at Elland Road earlier in the day had been focused on whether or not to sack head coach Javi Gracia, a Hail Mary with four games left. Gracia has had the job for all of two months but he is on the brink.
Surely it reassures Leicester to hear crisis mentioned in dispatches from elsewhere, to see Leeds sinking in the sand at Bournemouth on Sunday?
“I’m quite hopeful we’ll get out of it,” says Manderfield, which is about as optimistic as anyone can get. “Mind you, Leeds have been hammered by everyone except us. So that’s a bit of a worry.”
It might be easier for Leicester to be philosophical than most clubs. Vichai is the man whose ownership inspired a Premier League title and an FA Cup, the biggest domestic honours falling to a team who were milling around in League One with Leeds in 2008. So no matter what, they have those moments to hold onto. But next season would be their 10th in the top division and they think of themselves as settled at this level, too settled to retreat.
“Rather than be a yo-yo club, it would be great to keep it going,” says Marples and Manderfield agrees that while a decade ago he would have taken the offer of two trophies in return for relegation here and now, time changes a fanbase’s standards. “From 2016, when we had the stepping stones to stay at that level,” says Clarke. “But too many of the signings weren’t right.”
And there it is — the conversation being had simultaneously at Leeds, Everton, Leicester and in other parts of England. Southampton are five points adrift at the bottom and virtually doomed and Nottingham Forest, in 17th, are no more out of the woods than anyone else give or take. Recruitment, executive management, leadership, coherence; these are the deficiencies seen across the board, the failings supporters of different clubs can relate to, the flaws that have led them to this point.
Over by the entrances to the away end, Everton are here, cans in hand. I meet with three of them, Mat Flusk, Laura Gates and Jack Roberts, and listening to them is like listening to discussions about Leeds. They’ve no idea if they’re getting out of this but they don’t like the odds. They’ll blame nobody but Everton if Everton go down. And one way or the other, regardless of the outcome, something fundamental at Goodison Park has to change.
“At this point, if Everton stay up, it’ll seem like a robbery to other teams around us,” Flusk says. “It feels like we, and to some extent Leeds, used our last life (staying up) last season. Leicester are in it for the first time. There’s only so long you can circle the drain.”
They also followed Leeds losing away to Bournemouth 24 hours earlier and watched them allow four goals, breaking the Premier League record for concessions in a single calendar month. It’s a glimmer of hope for them but they know that Everton are prone to offering those to rivals themselves.
Gates thinks back to November, when Everton lost twice at Bournemouth in four days by a combined score of 7-1, once in the Carabao Cup and then again in the league, in their final two fixtures before the month-long World Cup break. “If we’d got rid of Frank Lampard after those two games, could we be in a different position?,” she asks. “That’s where my mind’s at. Would we be out of this and would we have to be having this stress every week? But you don’t know, do you?”
Another debate Leeds fans can relate to.
The misplaced steps remind you that this is not just about results or league status, the year-after-year routine of somebody coming up short and dropping divisions, as somebody must. There is an emotional aspect involved too, the human side of how a crisis plays out and how that crisis is managed. Watching mentally deflating football is bad enough without the addition of external aggravating factors.
Leeds, to be brutally honest, are burning most of the good faith of their fanbase. There comes a time when voices should be heard and the statement from their Supporter Advisory Board (SAB) over the weekend voicing a loss of confidence in the management of the club was fair and timely.
A video of some of the club’s players ignoring supporters at the team hotel before Sunday’s match, heads down, headphones on, painted a painfully aloof picture, one of weird social detachment. No doubt players need space before a game. No doubt the bus has to leave for the stadium on time. No doubt there are fine lines to tread when it comes to preparation. But try to look human and try to engage, as if you all have something in common.
GO DEEPER
Leeds apologise over video showing fans blanked in hotel
And so, sometimes, clubs get what they ask for.
Speak to Everton’s fanbase and they think this has been coming for a club consumed by the sort of ineptitude which pushes your luck too far. Speak to Leicester’s and you’ll be told this has been in the post for a while: players leaving, the use of big transfer fees delivering diminishing returns, the title-and-FA-Cup-winning swagger replaced by nervous glances over the shoulder.
Forest’s top brass never quite seem sure if they’re happy with Steve Cooper and the argument rages in Leeds about the wisdom of sacking Marcelo Bielsa in February last year, though most telling have been the poor decisions since his exit. Objectively, Bielsa was struggling in his final season but this, a club all at sea, should never have been the legacy of his era.
So what is a good result for Leeds tonight, or for Forest, just 30 miles (47km) away, who must be watching too?
If an Everton win suits then Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s early penalty is ideal. If a draw feels safer then Caglar Soyuncu’s equaliser for Leicester is a relief. But Leicester still have Vardy, their version of heaven, and he’s through in the 33rd minute, in between the centre-backs, around Jordan Pickford, scoring his second goal in a week. That, perhaps, is what Leicester have over others around them; the slivers of class that pull you through.
And then come the fine margins.
Calvert-Lewin shoots backwards from a yard out, a miss he can’t believe. Leicester counter from the rebound and Vardy clips the crossbar. It’s like the EFL play-offs, if you’ve ever experienced them — intoxicating drama encouraging more. Seamus Coleman is carried off with a nasty-looking leg injury and Leicester should be home and hosed before the first half ends. Michael Keane handballs but James Maddison’s penalty is straight down the middle and Pickford holds his nerve by standing still. Balls of steel, helped by instructions on his water bottle, and compelling viewing.
Alex Iwobi levels the game up again early in the second half and it is all or nothing in the time that remains, played like both teams are in the last-chance saloon.
It needs a mistake, a stroke of inspiration, something which just falls nicely for someone. Daniel Iversen’s late save from Abdoulaye Doucoure is a blinder. Leicester cannot lay Vardy in again. It’s 2-2 at the final whistle and bodies everywhere, exhaustion on the pitch, and in the faces of those heading for the exits and, no doubt, in those watching at home.
A decent point? Two dropped? Good news for others who need favours? Who can really say for sure?
There are thousands wrapped up in the nail-biting, thousands who do not deserve to suffer like this. And certain clubs who probably do.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)