It was a happy return to the King Power Stadium for Harvey Barnes as he helped Newcastle United to one of their easiest wins of the season.
Leicester City were 1-0 down within two minutes for the second time in a matter of days as Jacob Murphy tapped home from close range.
Murphy then doubled his lead before Barnes’ strike highlighted an embarrassing stat in which he became the first player who has represented Leicester to score in 21 attempts at the King Power Stadium.
With little to cheer about, Leicester fans took matters into their own hands.
Leicester fans celebrate Harvey Barnes goal
The Foxes fans were taunted by Newcastle supporters for the number of empty seats in the stands and as Barnes struck home, those who did make the trip soon followed suit.
Watching a former Leicester academy star who was part of so much success throughout the club’s history was a damning indictment of how far the club are away from the halycon days and Shields Gazette journalist Joe Shields revealed that sections of the home crowd even cheered when Barnes scored.
Shields described the act as a ‘classy gesture’ and that the wide man was shown plenty of appreciation by the Foxes faithful.
Given that Leicester broke a 141-year record for games lost at home without scoring, it’s no wonder that supporters have taken to celebrating opposition goals. Some even joined in with the away fans’ Joy Division-inspired song sung about the winger before the home end turned into a chorus of boos.
Leicester miss a Harvey Barnes-style player
When Leicester were last relegated in 2023, Barnes was one of those to depart.
The winger left with the best wishes of all in the East Midlands and despite a stop-start career at Newcastle, showed on Monday why Leicester can be so proud of his development.
Even though he is now 27, the winger would still comfortably walk into the Foxes’ starting XI.
In fact, aside from Abdul Fatawu at a push, there isn’t another winger in the team that could even compete with Barnes.
Oh how Leicester would crave a player like that.