Stoke 0 City 0
City's descent to the third tier of English football for the first time in our 124-year history was finally confirmed at Stoke last Sunday.
Although we started the afternoon outside the relegation zone, the dismal collapse against relegation rivals Sheffield Wednesday the previous weekend had left many fans fearing the worst, particularly in view of our poor record at the Britannia in recent seasons and our wretched away form (freak win at West Brom apart) previously during 2008.
It was always likely that both Wednesday themselves and Southampton would rise to the occasion in front of their own fans on the final day, and so it proved. We needed to match their results, but despite a gallant effort, particularly during the last half-hour, couldn't quite manage to do so.
In other circumstances, a draw away to a team en route for the Premier League, especially given the absence through injury of Clemence, Hendrie, Campbell and Kisnorbo, would have been hailed as a decent result. Not this time, though. Instead the 0-0 scoreline highlighted once again our failure to score sufficient goals to keep us at that level.
However, we should never have placed ourselves in such a perilous position in the first place. The most damning indictment of Ian Holloway's time as manager, which will surely be brought to a merciful end within days, is the side's complete failure to post back-to-back league wins throughout the course of his tenure.
Just one such sequence would have ensured our survival, ahead of our sky blue neighbours who, adding extra insult to injury, reverted to their role as perennial relegation escapologists….
As in so many previous games, Holloway's tactics defied logic and reason. Why did he play both of our top scorers on the wings? And why, with players visibly wilting through their efforts, did he wait until the 85th minute (and in the case of Ashley Chambers, stoppage time) to bring on extra firepower?
Both before and during the game, Holloway gave the impression of a rabbit stuck in headlights, and of a man quite unable to comprehend the scale of the fate to which his inertia condemned the team he was assigned to lead.
Many City fans, myself included, have frequently wondered in recent months whether the job would prove to be too big for him, in the same way that the demands of the England job overwhelmed Steve McClaren earlier in the season. On Sunday, our worst fears were realised.
But the blame for our downfall cannot and should not be laid at Holloway's door alone. It takes ineptitude of spectacular, Millennium Dome-size proportions to make FOUR misjudged managerial appointments in the space of less than EIGHT months. Yet that is precisely what City owner Milan Mandaric did during 2007, with consequences that have now incurred a considerable financial cost to him, and immeasurable anguish and distress to us.
The players should also not escape their share of the flak. Many of them arrived at City with a reasonable record of achievement, even success at Championship level. Yet on many occasions they were unable to reproduce that form for us, and instead displayed character deficiencies both individually and collectively which often resulted in potential wins being turned to draws, and draws into defeats. Some of those on higher salaries will now seek moves to other clubs. They should be allowed to leave, and their departures will not be greatly mourned.
Yet even among the gloom that has inevitably enveloped the city this week, there are still rays of hope. Despite understandable disillusionment, the fan base will remain comfortably the highest in League 1, and if harnessed properly, will be a significant force at that level.
In addition many of last year's title-winning Academy squad, including Max-Alain Gradel, Andy King, Ryan Beswick and Chambers, will have reached the stage where they'll be ready for regular first-team action. The new manager, whoever he may be, will therefore have an opportunity to create a side more than capable of producing the type of attacking, winning football which fans so desperately crave in order to restore the faith.
Meanwhile Stoke's own inadequacies, illustrated most vividly in the closing stages on Sunday as they desperately clung on for the draw, will probably ensure that their absence from the Championship is unlikely to be prolonged.
Let's just hope that we'll be around to welcome them back.
Stoke: Nash, Cort, Wilkinson (Buxton 21), Shawcross, Dickinson, Lawrence (Pugh 90), Delap, Whelan, Cresswell, Fuller, Sidibe (Ameobi 90). Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Pearson. Booked: Dickinson.
Leicester: Henderson, Stearman, McAuley, N'Gotty, Mattock, Bell (Ashley Chambers 90), Worley (Fryatt 85), Oakley, Hayles, Howard, Hume. Subs Not Used: Douglas, Clapham, Wesolowski. Booked: Howard, McAuley.
Att: 26,609 Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).
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