Boos, nervousness, helpless shrugs and another failure to launch. Leicester City's latest defeat at King Power Stadium by lowly Peterborough United had Foxes boss Russell Martin saying there will be "no quick fix" in sacking him when supporters chanted for his dismissal. Midfielder John Lundstram spoke of the team playing with "anxiety" at home, which has no doubt been exacerbated by the now regular criticism the Foxes are subjected to after a slow start to life in League One following back-to-back relegations.
That admission came at the end of a day that started with two of the club's hierarchy giving rare interviews, with long under-fire chief football officer Jon Rudkin defending the club's owners while sporting director James McCarron backed head coach Martin – albeit before this latest capitulation. So how did the highly anticipated meeting with Peterborough, a side led by former Foxes captain Robbie Savage, go from McCarron speaking of being "super excited" to ex-winger and BBC Radio Leicester pundit Matt Piper questioning how much "respect" Leicester players have for Martin? Leicester owners still committed to club - Rudkin Savage's Posh beat Leicester to pile pressure on Martin For years, media outlets had placed formal requests with Rudkin to speak about the club's fortunes – be them good or bad, from Premier League title triumphs to three relegations in four years.
That was, until just over an hour before kick-off at King Power Stadium on Saturday when he sat down with BBC Radio Leicester commentator Owynn Palmer-Atkin for an interview that lasted less than 10 minutes. For the first time, Rudkin addressed the heavy criticism that he, along with owner Khun 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha, have been the target of for years – culminating with calls for him to leave the club and for the Foxes to be sold. And while BBC Sport has seen the sale brochure that has been circulated, in which the club is on the market for more than £200m, Rudkin said he "cannot comment on speculation".
The game was still to kick off when sporting director McCarron also spoke to BBC Radio Leicester, more than eight months after he took the job with the Foxes. Dominating the discussion was the state of Leicester on the pitch this season, the appointment of Martin and the rebuilding of the squad after a summer clear-out of high-earning under-performers after successive relegations. Martin, a manager that some Foxes fans chanted their disapproval of when linked with the former Scotland international in years gone by, has endured a torrid few months at the helm with the team languishing in the bottom half of League One.
It was just minutes before they kicked off what would become their third home defeat of the season that McCarron spoke enthusiastically about what he felt the Foxes could look forward to after the extended three-week international break that allowed Martin more time infuse Leicester with the style of play he was hired for. McCarron said he was "totally convinced" that Martin is the right manager the job. "The central reason why we decide to appoint the manager is that we feel he can deliver a control-the-ball, dominate-territory style game with courage and intensity," McCarron said.
"But that takes time when you do 30 transfers over the summer. You need to see things settle down before you start to see the consistency." And what McCarron saw before the defeat by Peterborough was a side he felt "should really start to take off". When the clock finally ticked down to kick-off, there was no "take-off".
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