The most recent developments regarding Leicester City, including the enlargement and renovation of the King Power Stadium, the decision to fire Marc Brys as manager of OH Leuven, and Wout Faes’ difficulties with Belgium
It has been 13 months since the King Power Stadium expansion plans and all that comes with them were approved by a unanimous vote of the Leicester City Council. There has been stillness ever since.
There was no likelihood of work being done around the ground right away because a Section 106 agreement was necessary. This is an agreement between City and the council regarding what the club will do to enhance the neighborhood in some way in exchange for receiving approval for the King Power redevelopment. However, there had been no news regarding that either.
Admittedly, there have been bigger fish to fry for the club given their results on the pitch, with an unsuccessful relegation battle and subsequent rebuild taking focus over the past year. But the indication when the plans were first suggested was that falling down to the Championship would not see the expansion abandoned.
However, the silence has brought concerns from some sections of the fanbase over whether City are still committed to raising the King Power Stadium capacity to 40,000. The latest comments say they are.
The stadium development was one among the items covered in the minutes from the September meeting of the Foxes Trust’s biannual Fans Consultative Committee. The club acknowledged that the Section 106 terms “will soon be agreed and ratified by the club and council,” according to the minutes. Once everything is set up, City will receive the go-ahead “to start the project within a five-year timeframe.”
How the club’s divisional status affects the plans was also discussed and City said that while being in the Premier League is a healthier position from which to begin building work, if they were to get promoted and then relegated again, plans would not automatically be put on hold.
The minutes read: “Divisional status is not an exclusive consideration, but Premier League status is evidently healthier for the business model. The club confirmed that the commencement of development work would be underpinned by a business plan that would take risk factors into consideration, making it unlikely that development would be affected by circumstances changing mid-project (such as relegation).”
He was the longest-serving manager in the Belgian top flight at the time having been at Leuven for three-and-a-half years, but a poor start to this season has cost him his job. Two points from the first five games put him under pressure, and while Leuven responded with seven points from their next nine, they then lost twice, with goals in the final 10 minutes seeing them defeated by Standard Liege and Cercle Brugge.
With the club 14th of 16 and in relegation trouble, the board have decided to act, removing Brys. Now they are on the hunt for a new boss.
A statement from supporters was presented to the “English members of the board” just two days prior to the decision being made on Friday. This was probably addressed to Jon Rudkin, director of football for City, and Susan Whelan, chief executive of City, both of whom sit on the board at OH Leuven.
The fans’ letter to the board, which Het Nieuwsblad reported contained the following threat to boycott the club’s fan day on December 26 unless Brys was fired: “The catastrophic situation we are now in as a club, within the relegation zone, warrants the resignation of coach Marc Brys. We will continue our boycott as long as Brys is not sacked. If the English-speaking OHL board members ignore our request, we anticipate hearing directly from them. Other measures will be taken if the OHL board refuses to comply with our request.
Since many of the club’s key players were sold in the summer, there has been persistent fan resentment of the club’s management. Despite having said only a fortnight previously that he “feels more support than ever from King Power,” chants demanding the departure of CEO Peter Willems were made during the first few weeks of the season, and he did go in September.
After defeating Austria 3-2 last week, Belgium has secured a spot in the Euros for next summer. Wout Faes of City, who has played every minute of their qualifying matches thus far, is very likely to be in their team in Germany.
However, the centre-back has come in for criticism, and it has forced his manager Domenico Tedesco to come out in his defence. Faes was unconvincing in a win over Azerbaijan in the previous international break, and after being selected to face Austria, the consensus was that he was again under par.
Tedesco, though, declared over the weekend: “I am not concerned about Wout Faes’ condition. I see what you mean; via him, we lost a significant chance in Azerbaijan. We must consider the overall picture. Wout is crucial to us. He was useful against Austria on Friday in a number of circumstances. To defend against this structure is difficult.
The manager then turned those words into action by again picking Faes for the qualifier against Sweden on Monday night. The game was abandoned at half-time for security reasons after two Swedish people were shot dead in Brussels prior to the game.
