Former Leicester City defender Conor Coady has suggested that the club's ongoing struggles stem from problems that go well beyond the current squad or manager, following a torrid start to their first season in League One.
Leicester sit 18th in the table with just five points from five games, a run that included a 4-0 home defeat to Oxford United at the weekend. The result has intensified scrutiny on manager Russell Martin, who took charge less than three months ago.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club, Coady, who spent two seasons at the King Power Stadium after a reported £8.5m move from Wolves in 2023 before joining Wrexham, said he sensed the club's decline from the inside. He pointed to three relegations across the last four seasons as evidence that Leicester have been stuck "in transition too long."
"There's got to be something deep down that's wrong here because it's been going on for too many years," Coady said. "Everyone will sit there and go 'the players aren't good enough'. They haven't been good enough. I was there, I felt it, I wasn't good enough when I was there. But there's got to be a deeper issue."
Coady also lamented the loss of the identity that once made Leicester one of the toughest opponents in English football, recalling the era of Jamie Vardy, James Maddison, Youri Tielemans, Wilfred Ndidi, Wes Morgan and Robert Huth — the core of the side that won the Premier League title in 2016 and the FA Cup in 2021. "It was one of the hardest games you were going to have in a season," he said. "I just feel like that identity has been lost over the years. I was part of that team when we lost that identity."
The club's decline has already prompted significant upheaval at ownership level. Last season, owner Khun Aiyawatt 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha admitted he bore responsibility for Leicester's fall from grace, and the club has since been put up for sale with an asking price in excess of £200m.
Journalist Rory Smith, also on the podcast, questioned whether Leicester's recent run of managerial appointments reflects any coherent long-term plan. He argued that the contrasting styles of the managers brought in recently suggest there is no "overarching belief" from the ownership about the club's footballing direction. Still, Smith noted that given the resources at Leicester's disposal, they "should have the quality to be relatively competitive within League One regardless."
Despite the alarming results, Coady credited the club's transfer business over the summer, saying Leicester had refreshed the squad and given chances to younger players. He urged patience with Martin, whose possession-based approach takes time to implement. "They've decided to bring Russell in, so you decide to tie your flag to the mast and go, 'right, we are going to go with this'," Coady said. "If they're going to make a decision after four or five games, there was no point in bringing Russell in because that's not the sort of manager he is."
Former striker Chris Sutton was less optimistic about Martin's prospects, warning that his reputation for prioritising possession over incisiveness could work against him if results don't turn quickly. "The job he's gone into at Leicester, because of the expectation this season, is for them to bounce straight back," Sutton said, adding that Martin "needs a result or two quickly to turn the tide," given that "Leicester fans expect the team to go up, and that's his biggest problem."
Smith agreed that Martin's growing reputation, shaped partly by a difficult stint at Rangers, may leave supporters with limited patience despite his success in previously guiding Southampton to promotion from the Championship.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.