Championship football is staring Leicester City straight in the face, and there is nothing Ruud van Nistelrooy can do about it.
The Foxes lost 3-0 against Manchester United on Sunday, and in turn, Leicester set an unwanted Premier League record, becoming the first team in the competition’s history to lose seven home games in a row without scoring.
Alarmingly for Ruud van Nistelrooy, it’s now an abysmal 13 losses in 14 games for Leicester, who are rooted in 19th position and nine points from safety.
So, with no chance of avoiding relegation, there are already three tell-tale signs that City are preparing for Championship football.
Ruud van Nistelrooy threw Wout Faes under the bus
A run of just two league wins since being appointed in November suggests Van Nistelrooy lost the dressing room a long time ago.
For instance, Jannik Vestergaard refused to shake Van Nistelrooy’s hand during the 2-0 defeat to West Ham in February, and now the Dutchman has thrown one of his centre-backs under the bus.
In the loss to Man United, Van Nistelrooy blamed Wout Faes for Rasmus Hojlund’s goal after he failed to close him down and block the shot.
“I think if Wout Faes can come across to block Hojlund going to the keeper it would have been better,” he said. “The second one falls for Garnacho, falls in front of his feet and he doesn’t think twice.”
Typically, when a manager starts blaming his players, he’s lost the dressing room, and this is one sign they’re preparing for second-tier football.
- READ MORE: Leicester City fans urge Ruud van Nistelrooy to make one key change that could salvage the season
Conor Coady’s assessment of the Leicester City dressing room
Since Van Nistelrooy changed the system to a three-man defence, Conor Coady has played 90 minutes in both losses against Chelsea and Man United.
Before that, the Englishman was on the bench for five of the previous seven games, only appearing for 10 minutes in the Premier League during that period.
Now, as the international break commences, Coady has offered his assessment of the dressing room and it’s a mixed response.
While he claims the players are ‘great’ together, he also thinks they’re ‘fragile’ and that is due to a lack of confidence, suggesting his teammates don’t believe survival is achievable.
“It’s not a tough dressing room,” he said via Leicestershire Live. “The dressing room is great, people are together, but it’s fragile. I mean, I think you can see with our confidence, that’s not me beating around the bush, that’s me being completely honest about the situation.
“We’re in a shocking moment as a football club, as a team and it’s hard at the minute, it’s really, really hard, but we have to find something from within us to get ourselves up for these nine games.”
Leicester owners’ tone-deaf statement
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and Jon Rudkin are the two main reasons why Leicester find themselves rooted in the bottom three.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 17 |  WolvesWolves | 29 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 40 | 58 | -18 | 26 |
| 18 |  IpswichIpswich | 29 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 28 | 62 | -34 | 17 |
| 19 |  LeicesterLeicester | 29 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 65 | -40 | 17 |
| 20 |  SouthamptonSouthampton | 29 | 2 | 3 | 24 | 21 | 70 | -49 | 9 |
Two failed managerial appointments this term alongside a detrimental recruitment policy have resulted in City struggling in the Premier League.
The Leicester owners have done nothing to suggest they’re capable of bringing success back to the King Power Stadium, and before Sunday’s clash against United, Srivaddhanaprabha issued a tone-deaf statement in his programme notes, urging the fans to get behind the team.
“With 10 games of the season remaining, the task ahead of us remains very clear and our focus on that task must remain absolute,” he wrote.
“Everyone at the club continues to work and do everything we can to support the team in securing the results we need to stay in the Premier League. Whatever the circumstances, we will continue to fight and believe until the very end.”
Considering the board can’t even support their own team, how can they expect the fans to turn up and do the same as attendances continue to plummet.