Champions to Championship: how slow-thinking Leicester sealed their own fate | Ben Fisher

Poor management and poor recruitment have seen the unthinkable happen to a club who have enjoyed a glorious decade

Over the past few months the pre-match montages on the big screens at Leicester’s King Power Stadium have felt particularly bittersweet. One culminates in Ricardo Pereira striking late at PSV Eindhoven to tee up a first European semi-final and a date with Roma at the Stadio Olimpico last May, the other with Wes Morgan lifting the Premier League trophy with Claudio Ranieri. Confetti rains down and then there are a few seconds of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Leicester’s late owner, applauding fans on all four sides of the ground before the pictures fade to black. At which point supporters instinctively respond with a rousing cheer.

Seven years on from winning the title, six on from competing with Atlético Madrid for a spot in the Champions League semi-finals, two on from winning the FA Cup and missing out on a top-four league finish on the final day, and 12 months on from another European adventure, Leicester are coming to terms with relegation. Their previous three league finishes read: fifth, fifth, eighth. And now 18th, two points shy of Everton, who stayed up on the final day at their expense.