Today is the first of a two part look at last season by Colin Hall, who covered 11 away games last season including two in Europe…
Before the season started what were your hopes on what we could achieve ?
With the departure of N'Golo Kante, and the defence beginning to age a little, the chances of a repeat of the previous season's success was always going to be remote. The league's giants had regrouped, invested substantially in player recruitment, and in several cases had also recruited world-class managers.
Nevertheless, as long as pre-season preparations went well, and the recruitment team were able to add more quality and depth to the squad, I felt a top 10 finish in the league (perhaps even a tilt at the top 6), a run well into the Champions League knockout stages, and a run in one of the domestic cup competitions were all well within reach.
Sadly on the opening day it became clear that neither the recruitment nor the preparation had gone well. Having known all summer that Robert Huth was suspended for that match, why did the manager not give his replacement the chance to bed in alongside Wes Morgan in any of the pre-season games?
Maybe the lingering euphoria at the club after winning the league meant that certain things, and even certain teams, were taken for granted. We weren't the first team to suffer that kind of reaction and probably won't be the last. But it was still disappointing to see us fall so far short of expectations.
So on that basis out of 10, how would you rate last season overall and why?
No more than a 6, I'm afraid – and that only because of our exploits in Europe.
I've followed City for long enough (46 years and counting) to know that the spectre of under-achievement often comes with the territory. I never expected it to return so soon though. There can be no excuse for finishing 11 places and 37 points short of the levels of the previous season.
The signings made during the past two transfer windows haven't delivered the returns that we would have hoped for. Whether this was because there wasn't enough due diligence carried out before they signed, I don't know. But there's always a risk, when signing players from overseas, that they will struggle to adapt to English football and there have been several instances within this crop of signings where that has proved to be the case.
Being overtaken by a team as modest as Bournemouth – for only the second time in our history – was a particular blow. I've seen folk raise the issue of the disallowed goal on the last day and bemoan our luck with that. However, they fail to mention that we had a number of other chances to finish that game off, which we didn't take.
That result cost us about £6m in prize money – funding that could have been used towards developing the academy, extending the capacity of the stadium or boosting the transfer budget.
As the final league table shows, there's now a clear gap between the Premier League's elite clubs and the rest. We're on the wrong side of that gap. It will be decades before a club of our current size wins that league again.
Why do you think we had relative success in the Champions League while struggling in the Premier League?
Our status as a top seed helped to ensure that the draw at the group stage was fairly kind to us. Brugge were one of the competition's weaker sides, Copenhagen were disciplined but never really had any cutting edge to trouble us, while Porto, for all their experience and quality individuals, came up a little short when they came to Filbert Way, as many Premier sides had done before them.
Although Sevilla were flying when we played there, having recently beaten Real Madrid in La Liga on their own patch, they were not seen as the best of travellers. Having somehow managed to keep them within range for the second leg, the chance was there for us to finish them off, and despite riding our luck a little at times, that was a job we were able to carry out.
In the league, being champions meant that opposition sides often raised their game, playing with a greater intensity that we were often simply unable to cope with. Too many players lost confidence and form, and despite changes in tactics and personnel, the rhythm and the flow within the side just weren't there.
There was also a very noticeable rift between the title-winners in the squad and the new recruits. I recall travelling back from a bad away defeat last winter and seeing one of the senior players slating colleagues on social media. The management should have got to grips with that, but never did.
When it was announced, did you agree with the sacking of Claudio Ranieri?
The timing of the action, and the manner in which it was carried out, were both slightly bizarre, but there was no question that it had to happen. Claudio had clearly lost the dressing room and whatever the magnitude of his previous achievements, there was only one call the owners could make.
Our away form, such a source of pride and joy to us when we won the title, fell off the cliff from day one. When failings on the road started to be replicated at home, during heavy defeats by Chelsea and Manchester United, many of the fanbase started to realise just how bad a predicament the club was now in.
The nadir came in the cup defeat at Millwall, where he rested the entire first eleven at a time when a number of players needed to play to recover confidence and form. Although the team that did appear contained a number of full internationals, there was no cohesion, no urgency, no spark and no heart. We left ourselves wide open to a sucker punch against a very limited home team, and they duly delivered one at the end.
After he went, a lot of fans said he had tinkered too much with what had worked so well previously, but perhaps that was something he had to do, because our game plan had been worked out (and successfully countered) by too many of the top sides. Players, though, were unable to adapt to the tactical changes and so his efforts too often proved to be in vain.
Having two coaching teams – one brought in by Claudio and the other bequeathed by the previous manager – was also likely to prove a source of conflict. The complication created by this were clearly also having an effect on City's performances.
Despite the issues during the final weeks of his reign, every City fan will always have a debt of gratitude to Claudio. The artistic tributes to him in the city will remain for generations to come. I hope a time can be arranged for him to return to the club for a game so that he can be given the appreciation he deserves.
And now with the benefit of seeing the results, were the owners proved right?
Absolutely. They needed to take that course of action to prevent the unthinkable – relegation – from becoming a reality. A change of approach was needed. Craig Shakespeare went “back to basics” and the players – stung into a response by the media's ludicrous, hysterical response to Claudio's dismissal – produced arguably the best performance of the season to see off Liverpool.
The fixture list proved very helpful to us after that. We had a run of games against teams who were themselves not overflowing with confidence, and were able to collect enough points from that run to banish fears of the drop.
But in the closing weeks, after our elimination from the Champions League, bad habits started to resurface, and were ruthlessly exploited by Spurs during a midweek horror show which laid bare the full extent of our regression as a team.
I'm not convinced about the merits of giving Shakespeare the job on a long-term basis. Coaches at Leicester rarely make successful transitions to managers – remember Rob Kelly? He might steer us through another couple of seasons of mid-table mediocrity like the one we've just had, but I hoped the owners would have shown a little more ambition when making their choice. An approach for Eddie Howe or Paul Clement might have brought more dividends, but we are where we are and will just have to see what transpires in the coming season.
What was your personal highlight of the season?
The final whistle of the Sevilla home leg, confirming our progress to the Champions League quarter-final for the first (and maybe only?) time in our history. Only a handful of English clubs have reached that pinnacle during the Premier League era, so joining that band – and in doing so, going further than the league's other entrants in this year's competition – was a great experience. It will be cherished for a long time by those who were privileged enough to be in attendance.
Kasper won the Player of the Year Awards, would he have been your choice and who else do you think deserves praise for their performances?
Kasper Schmeichel was indeed my choice. He was one of the very few players who were able on a regular basis to maintain the standards that had been set the previous season. His performances during the Champions League run saw him named in UEFA's Champions League Team of the Season – and deservedly so.
When he had to sit out a number of games in the first half of the season due to various injuries, we missed him badly. He was instrumental in securing both of our away wins during the league campaign. It's best not to dwell on where we might have finished without him.
If he wishes to move on, then we should respect that. However given the inflated sums for goalkeepers being paid this summer, it would be a scandal for us to accept anything less than £35 million for him.
All the other senior players had spells when they were solid and spells where their form was, at best, indifferent. Jamie Vardy struggled under the limelight, not for the first time in his City career, but regained his scoring touch in Seville and went from strength to strength after that.
Which player do you think made the most progress last season and why?
Most of the younger players within the squad produced glimpses of quality during the season. The problem was, though, was that they often found it difficult to produce such form on a consistent basis. Maybe that's not so much of a surprise given the turbulence the club went through.
On balance, I'd have to say Ben Chilwell was the best of this particular bunch. He was given a lot more game time during this campaign, and although he had a few sticky moments, most notably in that Millwall game, his performance in the second leg against Atletico showed he could be a most capable replacement at left-back for Christian Fuchs.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation
Part two of Colin’s article will be published in a couple of days