Leicester City: Proof that money can’t buy happiness?

Having started the season under ex-England supremo Sven–Göran Eriksson all seemed positive for Leicester City. The 11-12 season was seen as a big season for the Foxes, with promotion seemingly assured, at least according to the bookmakers. Under the ownership of a Thai consortium with vast wealth, upwards of £10 million was spent on recruiting ex-Premiership and England stars such as Jermaine Beckford, Paul Konchesky, David Nugent and Gelson Fernandes as well as Championship stars such as Matt Mills and Kasper Schmeichel.

Despite a positive start to the season the instability quickly struck. Excuses were inevitably made with the well used line of “needing time to settle” consistently used. It was only a matter of time before the board grew tired of these excuses and, following a humiliating home defeat to Milwall, Sven bit the bullet. The managerial vacancy was a much highlighted position due to the wealth involved and unconfirmed rumours arising of continentally renowned managers such as Carlo Ancellotti, Mark Hughes and the old Messiah Martin O’Neill began to circle. Eventually, the club decided on a solid, if a little underwhelming, choice in Nigel Pearson.

With Nigel Pearson at the helm, his uncompromising stance and ability to get the best out of his players (after previously getting an unfancied Leicester side into the play-offs during the 09-10 season) was expected finally get them to live up to their high expectations.  Despite the return of a no nonsense manager, it could be seen that there was still discontent within the camp. Certain players who were Sven loyalists were clearly not happy and it was seen that Nigel was sticking to what he knows, using many of the players remaining from his previous reign.

With a task of steadying the ship until new signings could be made in January (an excuse often presented following lacklustre displays) the opening of the transfer window was not seen to be as significant as hoped for the Foxes fans. The January transfer window saw disappointingly few arrive at the King Power stadium, with no eye-catching players of a similar ilk to that which were seen to walk into their Belvoir Drive training ground the previous summer. The inconsistencies still remain, having not recorded back to back league victories since February last year, and despite a good run in the F.A. cup, Leicester can largely deem this season as a disappointment.

So where did it all go wrong? It is an old adage in football that money cannot buy success and it seems that this is much the case here. The Championship is a difficult league to get out of and it requires something special. Indeed looking at the 3 promoted teams from last year, all were based on a solid team ethic, with the right ethos to succeed. Despite the vast experience of Sven, it can be argued that there was a certain naivety on his behalf in thinking that the Championship can be solved by throwing money at it.

Sven was seen to collect players rather than build a squad, and he seemed rather unsure on what his best team would be. The wealth presented to Sven could also be deemed as too tempting not to spend, at the cost of neglecting the potential of some squad members. Martyn Waghorn was loaned out, Matty Fryatt and Jack Hobbs (now Hull City captain) were sold and replaced by high profile players.

It could also be argued that the players couldn’t handle the price tags around their neck, with the stand out performers this season being David Nugent (signed on a free transfer) and Kasper Schmeichel (signed for ~£1 million), and the likes of Matt Mills (~£4.5 million) and Jermaine Beckford (~£2.5 million) failing to live up to their high expectations. The disturbances to the squad chemistry are clear and the repercussions of this can still be seen in the league position now. Barring a late miracle the Foxes seem likely to be staying in the Championship next season. With Nigel at the helm, it will be interesting to see how many of the starting 11 on the opening day of next season will be of Premiership and ex-England level origins.

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