The chants from the stands at full-time in Leicester City’s 1-0 defeat to Swansea at the King Power Stadium showed that there’s still a strong sense the squad lack fight
Jordan Blackwell
16:35, 14 Apr 2026
The Leicester City squad before Saturday’s defeat to Swansea(Image: Stephen White – CameraSport via Getty Images)
As chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” echoed around the King Power Stadium after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Swansea, there was an underlying accusation being levelled at the Leicester City players: they don’t care and they lack fight.
It’s been described as an “easy narrative” by City manager Gary Rowett but it’s an understandable stance for fans to take.
They know these players don’t lack talent. All of them have performed well at Championship level previously, some even shining in the Premier League.
So there must be something else at play. Supporters have seen a fair few showings like Saturday’s, where City had 35 minutes to respond to going behind and mustered no more than one good chance, despite their Championship future being on the line.
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There has been statistical support for fans’ stance too. At the start of the 2026, City ranked bottom of the Championship for distance covered. Supporters don’t think the players are trying hard enough and they would argue those running stats are cold, hard proof.
But at every stage, City fans have been told otherwise. Players have always said City’s fate matters to them. Rowett, like Andy King and Marti Cifuentes before him, has been insistent that the players do care, pointing to their effort in training.
The manager has argued too that the physical output of the players has risen since he took charge.
For Rowett, a perceived lack of fight or care stems from the profiles of the players. He’s spoken about it regularly, that City have a team built to compete at the top of the division, rather than be scrapping at the bottom.
Rowett has said it’s been his biggest challenge to try to steer City away from the perfect goal and towards pragmatism. He’s said that this weekend against Portsmouth he will make changes so the team has more toughness, but less polish.
But it does also seem like Rowett may be trying to draw more from the players emotionally, telling them after Saturday’s game at Swansea about the number of people – fans, staff and others – who will be impacted by relegation to League One.
So, taking everybody’s words at face value and assuming that the players really do care, why might they not look like they do? There are plenty of reasons.
Firstly, this is a stale squad. City’s financial mismanagement did not allow them to freshen up the group this season. And with many of their signings either picking up injuries or failing to hit the mark, City look very similar to the team that was relegated last season.
Some of the players may have wanted to leave and that may, even subconsciously, have knocked their motivation.
But more than that, this is a team that has lost so many matches. When they conceded on Saturday, they looked defeated, perhaps because it’s happened so frequently over the past two seasons.
They’ve not even had a three-game winning run for two years. The belief that comes from earning victories has never lasted long because they’ve never truly banished the negativity of runs of defeats.
Plus, it’s not a club on an upward trajectory. It’s said that players ignore what happens off the pitch, but the anger towards the hierarchy over the running of the club, and the points deduction they’ve been handed, gives a sense of a side on a downward trend. There’s been no reinvigoration.
Chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha was absent on Saturday, a row of seats empty in the director’s box. He has said he watches every game from Thailand, but a lack of a physical presence can give the impression of a rudderless club. It feels like that lack of leadership will trickle down to the squad.
And because of the scenario they’re in, there’s no success for City this season. If they stay up, it’s still a failure. Relegation is simply a worse failure.
At teams like Portsmouth and Oxford, those who were perhaps expected to be battling at the bottom, there would be a real sense of success in even finishing 21st. That’s what they can strive for.
That’s not the case at City. They have no success to fight for. That’s bound to affect their motivation levels.
There’s still four games left. If the players do care, they have to find a way to show that. Otherwise the boos and chants will continue to rain down.
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