The target for Leicester City this season is Premier League survival, but even if they do not achieve their goal, one thing is becoming clear — they will not go down without a fight.
Steve Cooper’s side have not yet picked up a league win, but they have shown battling qualities in the first four games, even if the final piece of quality is a work in progress.
That commitment has led to 52 fouls committed, the seventh highest in the Premier League, and 10 yellow cards, including four in one game against Aston Villa that resulted in an FA charge for the players surrounding the referee and a subsequent £20,000 fine.
They also picked up yellow cards for Cooper and assistant Alan Tate in the same game and Cooper was critical of the performance of the referee David Coutts afterwards, stating his belief that the standard of referees in the Premier League was “behind the curve” in comparison to the standard of football in the division.
It is this off-field approach that has been more noticeable than the on-field combativeness of his side and Cooper has been full of fighting talk, pulling no punches about the controversial VAR decision that overturned an onfield decision at Crystal Palace to rule out Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first goal seconds after Leicester took a 2-0 lead.
A VAR image was posted on the Premier League Match Centre social feed (see below) during the match on Saturday at 4.19pm to show the goal was onside. The image had Mateta beyond Leicester central defenders Wout Faes and Caleb Okoli, but in front of the offside green line drawn by VAR. The image did not show Tyrick Mitchell as he crossed the ball nor Leicester defender James Justin as he attempted to block the cross. Justin’s outstretched foot was said by VAR to have played Mateta onside.
Forty minutes after the final whistle at Selhurst Park, at 5.29pm, a second image was posted on the feed which showed the ball being crossed and the outstretched foot of Justin. The green line was drawn with dots up to Justin’s toe and along to Mateta, but no lines were drawn up to Mateta.
This wider angle was also used to determine Justin kept Mateta onside. pic.twitter.com/3UWzUMilDw
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) September 14, 2024
After the game, Cooper urged Leicester to seek clarification. The club held talks on Monday with PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) representatives, including senior official Martin Atkinson, who manages the officiating of the professional leagues.
PGMOL explained why the on-field decision to rule out the goal was overturned and that the correct protocol was followed, but Cooper said the club had presented their own footage, which was withheld from the media and the public.
Some of the images were provided by Leicester’s own positioned cameras, used by the club analysts, but Cooper said the images would not and should not be revealed as the VAR officials did not have access to those images at the time. Leicester believe those images showed a different point of contact on the ball. The Athletic asked to see the images but the request was turned down.
Cooper claims that at the point Mitchell played the cross, Mateta was offside, but the PGMOL say the lines were placed accurately and that there was no human error and no mistake was made. This was made clear to Leicester in the meeting.
“It was inconclusive,” he said on Thursday in his pre-match press conference. “It was more about them telling us why they made the decision, showing us. Then us showing what we thought — we sent it to them and there’s been no response.
“It was an awful human error that we believe has been hidden a little bit in the media and that’s been as disappointing as the decision.
“The mistake is they’ve stopped it after Mitchell’s kicked the ball. Then, he was onside, but when he kicked it he was offside, so that’s where the mistake is, they’ve then released the footage of him being onside.
“We’re over it, but this is the first time to speak since the meeting. It’s our stance for the supporters.”
It may have been a futile process as decisions cannot be overturned retrospectively and the danger was it becoming a distraction from the focus on a hugely important game against rock-bottom Everton, but Cooper believes it was a worthwhile exercise.
“For me, it was about standing up for the players and the supporters,” he said. “In the last two rounds of games, we’ve been charged for surrounding a referee (against Aston Villa) and been really wronged with the VAR decision (at Palace) and we’ve got to show strength of character as a club to go: ‘We’re not accepting that’.
“I think it’s really important that our supporters know that we will always stand up for the club and we won’t accept things like this without giving our opinion and standing up for the club.
“It’s not OK. You want to help the referees if they want to improve and we don’t want them making these kinds of mistakes. It’s embarrassing for them.”
Leicester have fought their cause this season with notable success. After winning their appeal at the start of this month against a Premier League charge for a breach of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) for the three-year cycle ending in the 2022-23 season, when they were relegated, Cooper spoke about how his players would have to show unity against any possible backlash at the decision and a change of perception of the club.
“I talked about the last time (before the Palace game) after the club had won the appeal (on PSR) that we’ve really got to stand as a club and be strong and fight whatever comes our way. That’s what we’re going to do.”
After the ruling, Cooper said: “If the decision had gone the other way, we were ready as a group of players and staff to stand up and really fight for the club and show that we wouldn’t let anything interfere. I also think even though the decision’s gone our way, we’ve still got to make sure that we’re still together as a club and if there’s any opinion on the decision, we show how strong we are as a club.”
Leicester have shown a more aggressive approach to dealing with authority over the past 12 months, even before Cooper, who tangled with football hierarchies as manager of Nottingham Forest previously.
Leicester face Everton on Saturday, who were docked points for a PSR breach last season. While Everton and Forest, who were also deducted points last season for a PSR breach, accepted their charges, Leicester have taken a more combative approach.
They successfully challenged the Premier League and the English Football League (EFL) last season when the PSR issue came to light, with the EFL trying to enforce a business plan on the club as it projected Leicester would fall short of the league’s PSR restrictions. The EFL were legally stopped from doing so, while efforts to impose a points deduction on Leicester last season in the Championship were also thwarted.
Then Nick De Marco KC, the club’s legal representative, successfully argued that Leicester, who were found to have breached the £105million threshold by £24million, had relinquished their membership of the Premier League before submitting their accounts for the 22-23 season at the end of June, therefore they were no longer a Premier League club at the point they breached.
It was a victory for De Marco and Leicester, but it won’t be the end of the matter, with both the Premier League and the EFL issuing statements of shock at the ruling and vowing to take legal advice. Leicester could face another battle when they submit their accounts to the Premier League by the end of the calendar year if they have still not met the threshold, adjusted to £82million of losses for a three-year cycle that now includes one season in the Championship.
If the worst happens and Leicester are relegated to the Championship, the EFL will likely be waiting with sanctions. Another legal fight seems inevitable, but Leicester are becoming battle-hardened and adopting a siege mentality.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
