Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
So you immediately accept the club version of events despite there being literally no evidence against the fan banned?
No wonder our fan base are so deferential.
Why we should be protesting against those running our club
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So you immediately accept the club version of events despite there being literally no evidence against the fan banned?
No wonder our fan base are so deferential.
popillius
Well-Known Member
No. But then, that's not what I said.
You seem to have taken the word of the people involved without any question as to their involvement in what happened or their refusal to help investigate the matter, without having been there or having seen any of the evidence the club may have.
You see, it's easy to make stupid, sweeping statements. No wonder our fan base is often so eager to believe everything it reads.
My point, if you'd bothered to at least try and understand it, is that ultimately the UFS could have assisted the club in trying to find who was responsible. It is absolutely the case that many of them know exactly who was involved but will protect those people rather than give information to the club about them. They therefore reap what they sow. I have no ****ing sympathy. That is very different to being openly accepting of everything the club does, has done or will do.
popillius
Well-Known Member
And I get a lot of this but the UFS seem determined not to help identify the culprit but instead, protect them. The photo is very clear in that you can see who is directly in front and to the side of the flare and yet I'm pretty sure not one of them would be prepared to name the person who brought it into the ground. In that case, I have little to no sympathy with them being banned because they are complicit.
popillius
Well-Known Member
Okay, let's say for argument's sake it didn't.
Are those that have been banned prepared to help the club out by naming those who brought the flare into the ground and ignited it?
This is still the relevant question to ask. I'm guessing the answer was along the lines of 'Me, guv? Nah, I don't know anyone I was with in that group, 'specially not the bloke right next to me with the burny thing. Never seen 'im before in me life guv. None of us 'ave'
Miles Away
Well-Known Member
That's it in a nutshell, isn't it?
Thefoxinoz
Active Member
So what you appear to be saying is, if that was your best mate, family member who did this, then you'd dob them in without hesitation!
FryattFox
Well-Known Member
There's a really big gap between being friends with a twat, versus being forced to give evidence against that twat (which also includes the presumption that you know who did it) with the threat of punitive action.
The club have over-stepped here.
Joe_Fox
Well-Known Member
They could have gone full "I'm Spartacus" on them. Or just started singing "We didn't start the fire". Or both. To be honest, there's not much flair on the pitch at the moment so guess they felt a bit flair-deprived and took it into their own hands. They had trouble with the spelling though, hence the flare.
There is no photo of the incident. What I have shared is a photo from Preston away last season where the club took no action
Might genuinely not know.
I was in Rome when we had about five or six of the things going off in our end and there was one of those I could tell who let it off
That the group have asked for a collective meeting with the club suggests there is some willing there to communicate but thr club don’t want too. Their favourite trick is to run the tap of comms on and off except the one fan group who simply will not criticise them on anything.
Graz
Well-Known Member
Christ, are we that strapped for cash??
Should've kept Soyuncu if that's the new business plan.
SilverFox
Well-Known Member
The one fan group who have fled for the hills on here never to be seen again because they were asked if they could raise a few accountability questions.
I can assure you said fan group is directly working on the matter you brought up.
pork pie fox
Well-Known Member
I'll be honest, there are some games this season when I wish I'd been banned from attending.
big_mac4824
Well-Known Member
Are we protesting for a change of owner, more transparency or a shake of the board that deals with DoF and transfers?
Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
Project Reset: Why Leicester City fans are taking action
13 February 2025
Written By Project Reset
On Saturday 15th February 2025, Leicester City fans will take to the streets to voice their frustrations with the club.
To many outside of the club, Leicester City are exactly where they are expected to be this season – fighting for survival.
The notion that Leicester fans are entitled for expecting better on-field performances entirely misses the point.
Let’s explore five reasons why.
1. Absence of Trust
Trust is the foundation of any successful team, but at Leicester City, trust between fans, players and those running the club has eroded with time. Key to this breakdown is the sustained lack of transparency, come rain or shine – and let’s be honest, it’s been mostly rain in recent years.
The hierarchy operates behind closed doors, seeming to rely on leaked messages to journalists to distribute narratives instead of real, direct communication with supporters.
When the club was succeeding on the pitch, this approach was odd - but tolerated. Some even referenced this as a model for other clubs to follow – seen but not heard, let results on the pitch do the talking.
Fans understood that discretion and stability were a major part of King Power’s leadership philosophy. However, in a period of persistent instability and declining results, this continued silence has become unforgivable as the club appears lacking in direction and vision.
It fuels the perception that fans are, at best, expected to be devoted cheerleaders – regardless of what the grand plan might be. At worst, some fans now feel like they are merely profit centres.
With a lack of clear guidance from the hierarchy, fans are left guessing. Decisions appear reactionary, inconsistent and without reference to any clear guiding principles that fans can buy into.
The same unchecked errors appear to repeat themselves:
Inconsistent managerial appointments and, historically, too much loyalty to failing managers
A player trading strategy that lurches from one extreme to another depending on the manager
A failure to astutely manage player contracts, leading to fringe players on long, lucrative deals while key assets run their contracts down
This frustration is compounded by the fact that Leicester City once had a clear recruitment model that fans could understand - even if it was difficult to accept at times.
The marquee disposal strategy - where the club sold one high-value player per season to fund further reinvestment - was again heralded by some as a successful model for so-called ‘challenger’ clubs. It allowed the club to reinvest sustainably and incrementally, while maintaining competitiveness.
However, its fragility was fully exposed in 2021/22, when the club failed to sell Youri Tielemans for a fee, marking a damaging trend - whereby the club would rather lose assets for nothing than accept a deal deemed below perceived market value. For many, this marked the start of the downfall.
Trust cannot exist in a vacuum. Without transparency, communication and clear direction, trust between club and supporters is impossible.
2. Fear of Conflict
Healthy conflict breeds accountability and better decision-making. But Leicester City’s centralised footballing leadership – the day-to-day overseen by Jon Rudkin with big decisions reportedly requiring approval from Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha - is fragile and highly dependent on their continued sound judgment.
Aiyawatt (Top), still only 39, inherited the responsibility of running the King Power empire after his father’s tragic passing in 2018. This premature and unwanted promotion is also acknowledged as a key turning point for Leicester City.
Put simply, when Leicester lost Vichai, the club lost a hands-on, pragmatic leader with a clear vision and, crucially, the means to ruthlessly pursue that vision.
Vichai was renowned not just for his generosity and loyalty, but also for his tough-minded decision-making - most notably demonstrated through the sacking of Claudio Ranieri just months after winning the Premier League.
His tenure was defined by calculated risk-taking and a rare ability to intervene decisively, even when those decisions appeared ruthless and reckless to the outside world.
Another prime example was his handling of Nigel Pearson. Vichai backed him through promotion and stood by him through the great escape, yet when off-field matters became untenable during pre-season, he acted swiftly and removed him. It’s also easy to forget just how unpopular the decision to hire Ranieri was at the time.
This was the essence of Vichai’s success: an ability to make bold calls and recognise and rectify mistakes quickly - as he did with Paulo Sousa and Sven-Göran Eriksson. Where there was once ruthless pragmatism, there is now hesitation and unchecked loyalty, leading to inaction at critical moments. Jon Rudkin and the Srivaddhanaprabha family were already incredibly close before the tragedy, with Vichai trusting him implicitly.
In the wake of Vichai’s passing, it is understood that this bond strengthened even further – by necessity, with Top becoming increasingly reliant on Jon Rudkin’s long-standing history and association with the club, as the ideal confidant and source of advice.
This deep-seated trust - formed over a decade of close collaboration, may have blurred the lines between professional accountability and personal loyalty, creating an environment where challenging decisions are delayed or avoided altogether.
3. Lack of Commitment
The most successful challenger teams outside the traditional 'Big Six' operate with clear, long-standing principles that govern decision-making. These clubs recognise that success is built over years, as seen with Bournemouth, Brentford, and Aston Villa in recent seasons. Under previous leadership, Leicester understood this.
The appointment of Claude Puel was met with scepticism, but it represented a strategic shift towards a progressive playing style and an acknowledgment that the Premier League-winning squad was ageing and required rejuvenation.
This transition, though unpopular at the time, became the foundation that Brendan Rodgers built upon, constructing a team that challenged for Champions League places over multiple seasons.
However, when that expensively constructed squad was allowed to stagnate, the downward spiral began. Prolonged loyalty to Rodgers, combined with an inability to recognise how a marked decline in mentality was affecting performances, ultimately led to Leicester’s unrelenting slide into relegation.
Since then, Leicester has lost any long-standing semblance of a footballing identity.
Under Dean Smith, we reverted to a hopeful counter-attacking setup.
Under Enzo Maresca, we became a patient, possession-based team.
Under Steve Cooper, nobody - including the players, seemingly - knew what the philosophy was supposed to be.
The transfer strategy has been equally confused. At times, the club has prioritised young, tactically and positionally versatile players. At other times, it has lurched to the opposite end of the spectrum, looking to dish out lengthy contracts to experienced veterans.
This inconsistency has left the squad unbalanced and lacking a clear identity. In January, the club was once again hamstrung by past mistakes, leading to a compromised transfer window that left Leicester weaker than when it started. PSR constraints and poor leadership decisions have forced Leicester to double down on previous missteps, rather than correct them.
These are not the hallmarks of a well-run football club. Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that neither Jon Rudkin nor Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha seemingly operate as full-time football executives.
Jon Rudkin holds multiple roles within King Power. Top oversees the entire King Power empire.
Given the complexity of running a professional football club at the highest level, one must ask: How can Leicester expect to compete when its key footballing decision-makers are, by definition, only part-time?
At some point, there must be an acknowledgment that elite football leadership requires full-time, professional expertise - as was reportedly suggested by Enzo Maresca during his time at the club.
4. Avoidance of Accountability
A lack of communication and accountability is at the heart of the growing distrust between Leicester City’s hierarchy and its supporters. Top does not speak outside of refined programme notes on matchdays. Jon Rudkin has never spoken publicly as Director of Football (appointed in 2014), despite having overseen eight managers and over 90 signings in his tenure.
Rudkin has never communicated a long-term footballing vision. That is why empty and lazy calls for unity will fall on deaf ears – fans simply do not know what they are supposed to be uniting behind.
Famously, after Leicester’s humiliating relegation in 2023, the club announced an internal review - but no meaningful findings were ever shared, nor were any visible consequences enacted.
Instead, the club continued along the same path, allowing the same key decision-makers to remain in place, seemingly unchecked. Rather than acknowledging and addressing failure, Leicester's hierarchy leans into secrecy and silence.
The result? A culture of unaccountability, where bad decisions are papered over and allowed to compound with time - problems fester, and those responsible for overseeing the club's footballing strategy operate without apparent scrutiny.
5. Inattention to Results
This is perhaps the most damning of all and certainly the section that requires least explanation.
A run of 8 losses out of the last 9 league games - form that even the most optimistic fans will find hard to defend – leaves Leicester reliant on other teams being worse than them as the only means of survival.
Unlike in 2023, where there was still a sense of quiet confidence and real proven star power in the squad, this time it feels different. There is a feeling of inevitability about our coming relegation.
By and large, fans have already started to turn their attention to next season in the Championship, with the prospect of another rebuild and potential transfer embargos top of mind. The cycle of decline has become predictable, yet with each season of decay and perceived mismanagement, the hierarchy benefits from less and less financial flexibility to change the course of direction.
It is this worrying trend that reinforces the fear that without meaningful change at the top of our football hierarchy, there is little hope for a change in fortunes. The squad is older, the financial situation is more precarious, and the momentum that once propelled Leicester forward is gone.
At some point, the leadership at Leicester City must acknowledge that making the same mistakes and expecting different results, is the height of stupidity. Quite simply, something has to change – and that is why we’re advocating for a footballing reset at Leicester City.
Project Reset is a non-violent protest about the footballing leadership at Leicester City. We will protest on 15th February 2025, meeting outside the Local Hero at 11.30am.
Joe_Fox
Well-Known Member
What exactly though does a reset entail though? A reset to what exactly?
Fox Fan
Well-Known Member
A properly run football club?
Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
I assume that there is no call for a change of ownership because too many fans won't get on board with that. That's the problem here in a nutshell. We all know that Aiyawatt either needs to sell up or admit that he can't run the club properly and appoint people that can.
If you want my view, I see this as an attempt to embarrass King Power into doing something. If people create a fuss, they won't like it. That's something that most fans can get on board with, irrespective of your personal view about Aiyawatt.
One of the journalists that the club excommunicated a couple of years ago was Rob Tanner. As a result, maybe he felt brave enough to write this (posted below). In contrast, here are quite a few local journalists that are notably quiet this week!
Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
Project Reset: Why some Leicester City fans are calling for change on Saturday
By Rob Tanner
Nearly nine years ago, Leicester City fans gathered at the Local Hero pub, just up the hill from King Power Stadium, to watch as title rivals Tottenham Hotspur failed to beat Chelsea, meaning their team achieved the incredible feat of becoming 5000-1 Premier League champions.
It is the greatest feat in the club’s history and in that moment, Leicester fans could not be prouder of their club, which had been transformed under the ownership of the Thai-owned King Power International group and Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.
Less than a decade on and some Leicester fans will be gathering at the Local Hero once more, but this time the mood is very different.
A group of fans, under the banner of Project Reset, have organised a protest march from the pub to the stadium ahead of the lunchtime clash with Arsenal on Saturday.
They will be wearing or displaying the colour yellow as a visible protest and have called for other supporters to join them in a vocal protest on 14 minutes — a reference to when Leicester completed the signing of Portugal midfielder Adrian Silva 14 seconds after the deadline in August 2017 and couldn’t register him until the January window in 2018. It is seen as an example of the sort of mistakes the club has made since the title success.
Protesting fans have also been urged to gather in the middle of the East Stand after the game to be visible for the television cameras.
The protestors are demanding transparency and answers as to why the club has gone from one of the most well-run in the Premier League, challenging the elite of English football, to a club that was relegated back to the Championship in 2023 and could be heading straight back there again at the end of this season to face an uncertain future.
They want accountability for how the club’s wage bill was swelled to the seventh highest in the Premier League but was still relegated amidst crippling profit and sustainability rules restrictions, compounded by mistakes and poor recruitment of a succession of players and managers.
The situation has been aggravated by a January transfer window in which manager Ruud van Nistelrooy received only one new signing when results demonstrated he needed more.
A summer net spend of £50million ($62.3m) under previous manager Steve Cooper, who was sacked after just 12 games, limited the support Van Nistelrooy could receive in the window, with many of the summer arrivals not chosen to start games under the Dutchman, although these recent events are seen by some supporters as the tip of the iceberg.
Except for the significant absence of late chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died in the helicopter crash outside King Power Stadium in October 2018, it is the same people who led the club to their astonishing success of 2016, but the fans who are protesting, and many who will choose not to march but share the same sentiments, have lost faith in the same management setup at the club.
Everyone at board level has been placed under scrutiny by disgruntled supporters, but particularly director of football Jon Rudkin. A crowdfunding campaign has generated enough to hire a mobile digital billboard that will carry an image of Rudkin, calling for his sacking by the club’s owner, chairman Khun ‘Top’ Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.
The organisers of the protest have said they wish to remain anonymous because they say they fear repercussions from the club, but sent The Athletic a statement titled The Five Dysfunctions of a Failing Football Club, which detailed their points of grievance.
The five failings in the eyes of Project Reset are:
- The absence of trust — a lack of transparency and communication from the club to the fans
- Fear of conflict — a reluctance to make quick and impactful decisions since the death of Khun Vichai
- A lack of commitment — ‘a loss of any long-standing semblance of a footballing identity’
- Avoidance of accountability — that the same decision-makers remain in place after the 2023 relegation and that Rudkin’s vision for the football operation has not been communicated to the supporters
- Inattention to results — that the club is on a spiralling trend that the hierarchy have not taken action to address, leaving many fans resigned to what they feel is an inevitable relegation unless immediate action is taken.
“We’ve given them the chance to come out and be transparent with us and it hasn’t happened. Now is the time for change.
“I think they (the board) have run their course. I think we’ve got to be grateful for everything they’ve done for us, but I think you only have to look at the recent track record in the transfer market with contracts to know that I think their time’s up.”
At the heart of the depth of feeling for a reset appears to be the club’s reluctance to engage with supporters and offer any mitigation for the recent seasons of decline.
“The unrest amongst the fans isn’t because the team is struggling this season and the unrest isn’t out of some sort of entitlement, it’s been brewing for a few years with the same issues and frustrations repeating themselves over and over again without any sort of explanation or accountability,” says Jake Watson, who isn’t one of the organisers of the non-violent protest but a season ticket holder and host of the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast.
Fans of other clubs and those opposed to the protest have accused the protesting Leicester fans of a sense of entitlement after their Premier League and FA Cup success and a lack of reality to their situation as a newly promoted club again, but Watson says that is false and doesn’t recognise legitimate grievances.
“The fanbase never expected this to continue,” he says. “Everyone understood it was nigh on impossible to replicate these moments and we savoured them.
“However, over the last few seasons, the way in which this club operates has changed. Metaphorical own goals on and off the pitch time and time again. In any other club, the people responsible for those failings would have been replaced or asked to step aside.
“At Leicester City, it appears with each glaring mistake your position becomes more secure.
“The bulk of the frustration is aimed at Rudkin. He is a man who we all recognise is spread too thin within the King Power business, but he is also a man who has proven he is not up to the level required to be a director of football at a club this size.
“It would appear to us as fans that Leicester could plummet back down into League One and Rudkin would still be sat, emotionless, next to Khun Top overseeing the football operations. We implore Khun Top to bring someone else in to help with recruitment.”
It is unclear how many fans will be marching to the stadium on Saturday, but the protest has been included in police planning for the game.
“The force is aware of a planned peaceful protest outside King Power Stadium on Saturday,” Leicestershire police said in a statement. “This has been taken into consideration as part of the policing operation for this fixture.”
There are fans who are not ready to protest outright yet but still share the same frustrations as those who will.
While a minority of fans may even feel a change of ownership is ultimately required, there are a large proportion who do not.
“I absolutely support Top and do not want a change of ownership, just some fresh ideas and practices in the boardroom,” says Iain Wright, season ticket holder and contributor to BBC Radio Leicester and The Fosse Way website.
“Of course, we’re all grateful for everything Top and family have done, but since the advent of PSR, the rules have changed to prevent anyone else buying into the top six. It’s no longer a battle of who’s got the best benefactor, it’s a battle of who’s got the best strategy. This is where our board has struggled.
“The current board have allowed two of the biggest losses in UK sporting history (£92.5m in 2022 and £89.7m in 2023).
“The nub of the frustration is that the same people have continually failed, allowing the position we were in to evaporate completely without consequence.
“Plain and simply, it’s time for a new director of football and other board members to inject fresh ideas and expertise to create a different strategy in line with what’s needed in the modern game, to stabilise things and then push us forward.”
But not all fans support the protest. Cliff Ginnetta, chairman of the official supporters’ club, says the club’s members are not involved.
“We don’t know anything about it and are not interested in it,” he says. “We are supporters, so we back the club no matter what.
“Mistakes have been made and we go to meetings with the club and point that out. That’s how it works
“It has become quite toxic in the ground and away from home and I am not sure why people are getting wound up. We all knew this would be a difficult season. We were expecting a big points deduction and a battle for survival after winning the Championship last season, but people seem to have forgotten that.
“I have meetings with people and try to explain how it works, but they don’t want to know and get carried away. I think they think they are running the club.”
The Foxes Trust, which has a member on the Fans’ Advisory Board, which regularly meets with the club, say they understand the reasons for the protest but have no official position on Saturday’s plans.
“The Foxes Trust understands the anger and disappointment of some fans, including some who are members,” said chairman Steve Moulds. “A peaceful protest outside of the ground indicates that some fans care about the direction the club has been taking and want to publicly demonstrate this, but I would urge those who want to have a dialogue with the club to join the trust, help us grow in numbers, as we are having dialogue with the club at various levels.”
What impact such protests will have on Van Nistelrooy’s side this Saturday as they fight for Premier League survival is a point of debate amongst supporters who have varied views on the club’s situation and the calls for a reset.
“I think this season especially, there needs to be a sense of togetherness, but I think the big thing about the protest is they’re not aiming it at the players on the pitch,” says Casey.
“They’re saying get behind the team, full support for the team, but say your piece about the people higher up as well.”
Van Nistelrooy supports the fans’ right to voice their opinion, but stressed how much their total backing for his players means as they face Arsenal.
“Thank God we live in a society where there’s freedom of speech,” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“Everybody who feels that they should let their voice be heard in a good way is free to do that and we have to all be happy that we can do that.
“Looking back as a player, when you played in front of your home crowd and there is a connection with that crowd, and there is a tackle or a pass or a cross or in a difficult moment in a game where the support lifts you, I know from experience.”
Many supporters do want to take their opportunity and exercise their right to make their feelings known as they feel their voice is being ignored as they call for change.
“The club refuses to enter any meaningful dialogue or make steps to make us believe the direction this club is in is likely to change,” Watson adds. “We want to see someone brought in to manage the football operations. Recruitment, contract and transfer negotiations at the club have been under-resourced and outdated.
“If we don’t make a stand now and protest, then not only will this club be relegated this season, it will once again cause a financial catastrophe.
“What the protest looks like I am unsure of, but what I am sure of is that the club needs a change.”
They may not get the change they want, but some Leicester fans certainly want their voice heard.
| P | Pld | Pts | |
| 1 | Liverpool | 25 | 60 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 25 | 53 |
| 3 | Nottm F | 25 | 47 |
| 4 | Manchester C | 25 | 44 |
| 5 | Bournemouth | 25 | 43 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 25 | 43 |
| 7 | Newcastle | 25 | 41 |
| 8 | Fulham | 25 | 39 |
| 9 | Aston Villa | 25 | 38 |
| 10 | Brighton | 25 | 37 |
| 11 | Brentford | 25 | 34 |
| 12 | Tottenham | 25 | 30 |
| 13 | Palace | 25 | 30 |
| 14 | Everton | 25 | 30 |
| 15 | Manchester U | 25 | 29 |
| 16 | West Ham | 25 | 27 |
| 17 | Wolves | 25 | 19 |
| 18 | Ipswich | 25 | 17 |
| 19 | Leicester | 25 | 17 |
| 20 | Southampton | 25 | 9 |
