Exclusive: Danny Simpson Predicts Tough Road Ahead for Former Club Leicester City to Return to Premier League

Premier League winner Danny Simpson believes his former club Leicester City will find it harder than ever to earn their place back in the top-flight.

Simpson enjoyed memorable success with the Foxes in the Premier League title-winning side of 2016.

But the club’s ex-defender has been left perplexed as to why things went so badly last season.

Italian manager Enzo Maresca guided the club to the Championship title the previous season, but he left before the new campaign.

And the upheaval did little to help the Foxes with their return to the top-flight, losing a staggering 25 of their 38 games and registering just six wins in a forgettable and deeply disappointing campaign.

“The performances were pretty poor, probably from day one if I’m being brutally honest,” revealed Simpson, speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.com. 

“I understand they got left in the lurch regarding their manager, his decision to go to Chelsea is not how you want to start your season do you?"

“Player recruitment, if it works out well then people are saying at the end of the season is as good."

“But when it doesn’t work out people will say it’s bad recruitment – and that’s what the club have to look at."

“At the end of the day the money that was spent, well the players haven’t delivered."

“The players that came in haven’t done their jobs and the club got relegated."

“They had to rely on a 38-year-old Jamie Vardy for most of the season.”

LOSS OF VARDY

Veteran striker Vardy finished the club’s top scorer in the league with nine goals as no Foxes’ player managed to break into double figures.

And worryingly the club endured a miserable 15-game losing run which essentially ended any hopes of avoiding relegation with seven games still left to play.

In all the Foxes failed to win 18 matches in a row, a 2-2 away draw with Brighton at the Amex Stadium in mid-April the only point they picked up a demoralising run for their loyal supporters.

“All across the board it’s been – and everybody knows that,” added Simpson, who enjoyed six seasons with the Foxes in the Premier League.

“Now they’ve got to use their experience of bouncing back again, which I think will be harder this time than the first time."

“Last time they got promoted back to the Premier League I could see the players wanted to get back up, even though the club was going to lose big players like James Maddison and Harvey Barnes."

“But they’ll be no Jamie Vardy – and he scored 20 goals that year they went back up, as well as losing other big players."

“I’ve seen some of the lads’ interviews and some statements on Instagram that they’re disappointed with the season, but listen, it’s been painful to watch to be honest."

“You saw them having a go in games and some games were close, but it just hasn’t been good enough unfortunately."

“But, for me, it seemed very easy for teams to beat Leicester."

“The last few weeks of the season that probably wasn’t the case, but generally teams have found it pretty easy to play them. It’s been hard to watch.”

IMPROVING QUALITY

Simpson has no doubt the standard of the Premier League is ever-improving, but the former Manchester United and Newcastle United full-back believes that shouldn’t detract from how poor Leicester were last season.

“The standard is getting better of the so-called ‘middle’ teams, they’re all improving."

“Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa have all pushed on, but that’s something which has not happened overnight."

“They’ve done this now for five or six years, I think Brentford is a perfect example of a club who have done that."

“It’s about buying and selling the right players and re-investing at the right time."

“That’s something Leicester can probably learn from, last season it was not the case for them.”