EXCLUSIVE
Following back-to-back Championship defeats, Jamie Vardy led an intervention to help clear the air between Leicester’s squad and reassess their promotion chances.
Two weeks is a long time in football. Trudging off the pitch in Plymouth in the middle of April after a second consecutive defeat, the mood around Leicester City was flat to say the least.
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Both games, the other against Millwall a few days earlier, had panned out in similar fashion: two lower table teams, fighting for their life against the fear of relegation, sitting deep and looking to hit on the counter attack.
Leicester had no response. The possession was there, but penetration was lacking. And on the odd occasion they did carve out a chance, it was duly fluffed. The frustration from fans in the away end was audible.
Fast-forward a couple of games and things look very different. Leicester fought back to the top of the Championship, having battled tooth-and-nail to secure three points against West Brom, before cruising to a 5-0 victory over Southampton.
The Foxes have now been promoted to the Premier League as a result of Leeds' 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday, sparking wild celebrations reminiscent of their famous title win in 2016. So, what changed?
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The defeat to Plymouth was a real turning point. From a fan’s perspective, this was a crisis, and it didn’t look like manager Enzo Maresca knew how to turn the tide.
Step forward Jamie Vardy. The club’s iconic talisman for more than a decade intervened to call a players-only meeting to address the team’s current issues, as Marc Albrighton exclusively revealed to talkSPORT.
“It was Vards who called the meeting,” he explains. “A lot more players spoke up than I thought would have. There was a lot of honesty.
“It was a big conversation about what this [promotion] meant. What it would mean to the club. Every player has got a reason why they want to be back in the Premier League.”
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When asked for the specifics of what was discussed, Marc continued: “We felt sometimes over the course of, especially the second half of the season, the lads seemed to not want to take certain risks [in possession].
“We've got some incredible players in the squad. We've got some real talent, especially the wingers. Their strength is running at players, getting past them, and getting balls into the box.
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“So we told them to go and do that. Don't turn out, make sure you express that freedom – I think maybe they lost a little bit of confidence during the season, with the defeats and stuff, but they've been absolutely brilliant for us, so it was just getting back to that.”
That advice worked emphatically, especially for young Abdul Fatawu, who rose to the occasion and then some against Southampton, bagging an assist and hat-trick to take home the match ball and lead the celebrations with fans after the final whistle.
“He’s been a revelation for us,” Albrighton smiles. “He’s only 20 years old as well. I obviously watched him in the first half [vs. Southampton] and I went and spoke to him at half time.
“I just told him to keep doing what you're doing, both offensively and defensively. Kyle Walker-Peters was trying to get forward, but Abdul was tracking every run, making tackles. That's a credit to him.”
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Whether Leicester can sign Fatawu come the summer remains to be seen. It’s reported that there is an obligation to buy the winger, lon loan from Sporting, should the club get promoted, but that may be complicated by the current player registration embargo in place.
Albrighton, 34, and Vardy, 37, are another two whose futures are up in the air this summer, with both players out of contract. The pair have a great relationship on and off the pitch, and Albrighton says it’ll be a sad day when Vardy finally calls time on his Leicester career.
“I see him every single morning,” he laughs. “I think the day where I don't see him every morning will be quite a tough adjustment because he’s such a character.
“He's great for a dressing room, because sometimes dressing rooms need somebody like him. It’s not that he doesn't care about the football side of things, but he can make light of everything, whatever is going on.
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“He creates conversation, and that can really help take the daily pressures off sometimes. He's got his own funny regimes, obviously, but he’s a good friend of mine and whatever happens, the service he’s shown this football club is second to none.”
With his legacy at Leicester already well and truly cemented, it’d be a fitting end to Vardy’s fairytale story if his last act was to spark Leicester’s revival and lead them back to the Premier League.