Leicester Need Something Special To Beat Drop – Rowett

As Leicester City stumble towards relegation to League One, a lone Foxes player stood up among team-mates to speak up.

It was a voice of defiance at a time of increasing despair, and manager Gary Rowett wanted everyone to hear.

The message from the unnamed player was delivered when the character and desire of a side facing the prospect of back-to-back relegations – having dropped out of the Premier League last season – has repeatedly been questioned by supporters, who have vociferously made their opinions known with boos and jeers from the stands.

With Leicester five points from Championship safety heading into their final four games, the words were an attempt to provoke a reaction from a side that has won just one match in three months and could be condemned to life in the third tier within the week.

“People who’ve been around football for quite a while still hanker for those characters and those players that are inspirational,” Rowett told BBC Sport.

“I think there’s less of those players. But you can show leadership in different ways. For me, it’s about showing it on the pitch when it matters – those fighting qualities. Some people lead that way. Some people are more vocal.

“One of my players stood up in one of my meetings recently and spoke a little about how we have an opportunity to do something special at the end of the season.

“OK, it won’t quite be what everyone felt we were going to do, but we still have that opportunity and we have to feel that chance.

“If you don’t believe you can do it, then you are simply not going to do it.”

Beating the drop now appears increasingly difficult for a side that famously won the Premier League title 10 years ago – but even the 5,000-1 triumph was preceded by the ‘Great Escape’, when it took seven wins from their final nine games to keep them in the division they went on to conquer the following season.

The team back then was one powered by a legion of Leicester legends in the making, including Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Kasper Schmeichel and captain Wes Morgan.

The golden generation of a decade ago – a number of whom went on to help the club lift the FA Cup in 2021 – cannot be compared to a side that is facing the prospect of a third relegation in four years.

Their heirs are battling to avoid the ignominy of becoming only the second Foxes side to drop into the third tier in the club’s 142-year existence.

The milestone anniversary of the 2016 title success is just weeks away, but Rowett said the ghosts of glories past are “not a distraction” or something he feels should impact his side in their efforts to stay up.

“You would have to ask the players if it weighs heavily on them, but I don’t think it does,” he said.

“It’s about our performances and us playing with a real pride about us and reflecting the fans’ mindset of seeing a team go out there and do everything they can.

“That is what we are focused on, rather than an incredible achievement that you can argue is one of the biggest of any team.

“I don’t want to diminish that because it was an amazing moment, but it doesn’t help us in this moment.

“We’ve got to create our own little bit of history if we can.”