Leicester City Fan View: What should Foxes fans realistically expect from the champions?

It’s long been a Monday morning tradition to go into work and celebrate or bemoan your football team depending on their performance and result that weekend. For Leicester City fans, like so many others, that’s often seen us doing more of the latter. Sometimes it’s light relief, other times it starts arguments. There’s always that one person you work with whose club beats yours too.

The 2015/16 title-winning season feels like very much the exception and not the rule for Foxes fans. We had little, if anything, to complain about, unlike this season. We saw what’s arguably the best season our club has ever had and it was packed full of incredible football, inspiring goals and dare I say it again, the impossible. With half a season remaining, I wonder how we’ll look back on this season when it’s all done. Mostly, I feel we’ll look back on it and regret the ‘what ifs’.

You could understand if it’s viewed as a missed opportunity for the club. Few carried the belief that we’d repeat last year’s success exactly the same way, particularly with the way it re-woke the league’s big four and the investments they’ve all made. What few predicted though was such a drab and lacklustre domestic campaign. Or to be involved in a relegation battle with a somewhat unpleasant run of fixtures in progress.

The club had a chance to capitalise on the enthusiasm and the buzz around the club. To be fair, it appeared that they had during the summer. Some serious money was spent on bringing Ahmed Musa, Islam Slimani and Nampalys Mendy to the club along with others. Pre-season didn’t sound too many alarms. Ok, we lost in the overseas tournament to the likes of PSG and Barcelona but that was a chance to learn and to bolster for the potential of having to face them should we progress in the Champions League.

The Champions League has actually proved to be pretty much the only joy as a Foxes fan this season, not counting the victory over Manchester City. The final group match aside, it featured some of our better performances and saw us move into the final sixteen. As things stand, two legs against a rampant Sevilla look rather daunting. Particularly if recent form and issues with creating chances on goal aren’t rectified.

It was announced this week that Leicester City had just broken into the list of the world’s twenty richest football clubs, no minor feat for a team who’ve had financial issues in the not so distant past. That will likely change again soon, Champions League and increased television money and interest in the club over the last twelve months having helped with that.

So what should Foxes fans want from their club now? The summer was probably one of the most relaxed I can recall as a Leicester fan. Perhaps because there weren’t managerial changes and many were still riding high off the back of last season. Had you asked many of us at Hull pre-match we were hopefully for a top ten finish, pushing for Europe if possible. If the loss to the Tigers made for a frustrating start, it hasn’t lifted much since.

Were we hoping for too much? I’d argue not. Yes, other teams weren’t up to scratch last season, but we were still impressive. We held our squad together well, losing just one of the main squad members. Yes, it turned out to be a bigger loss than initially thought, particularly by the club who didn’t truly fill that gap during the summer, but we also added to it. On paper, it’s not a side who should be so many points further back than we were this time last year.

Even as fans debate the current situation, there’s a sense of overwhelming frustration but many don’t know quite what they were expecting from this season. It’s a tough act to follow and could likely be the highest of heights many of us will witness as Foxes fans. It’s confusing to try and understand exactly why it’s just not working. On paper, we have some very good players. We have a competent and passionate manager. We have owners that care for the club and want to take it in the right direction. I’ve seen it suggested that we’re being ungrateful, particularly because of what we were lucky enough to have last season, but it’s natural that that alone doesn’t excuse the level of football and results for the majority of this season.

What’s possibly soured feelings so much is the manner in which we’ve gone backwards. The least that any football fan wants from their team is effort, commitment from each and every player. Unfortunately we’ve not had that in every match. There have been too many individual and team performances that have been lacking in several ways. Speculation over why is difficult to call. Whether it comes down to money, an emotional hangover of sorts from last season or something else entirely is unclear.

Domestically, there’s still a chance to salvage some pride in the league and pull ourselves out of the relegation scrap. There’s still a shot at an elusive FA Cup success too. An away win at Everton was surprising and sees us travel to Derby in the next round, with 6,000 fans making the short journey. It’s a tricky tie and it’s televised. Steve McClaren’s side will fancy their chances at home and it’ll likely be a nervy one to watch in the Leicester end. Progression would certainly brighten the situation a little and it was refreshing to hear that the club wanted to have a run in the competition.

There are eleven days remaining of the January transfer window and the Foxes have been conservative so far. Wilifred Ndidi is a welcome addition to the squad and could prove important but we’re still desperately awaiting news of a defender, or two. We may need to add a striker to that wish list too with Leonardo Ulloa having handed in a transfer request.

There’s still time for Leicester to turn around their season, but with patience wearing thin, we need to start seeing results and preferably before we travel to Seville.