LEICESTER CITY were the face of English football when they won the Premier League title last season.
Seven months on and the mask is slipping.
Leicester, everybody’s favourite football story when they lifted the trophy, are struggling with all the distractions.
There is even a danger the Foxes, three points off the drop after their Boxing Day defeat against Everton, could be relegated.
It is no way to defend a league title.
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The trappings of success — cash, fame and fortune — are destabilising the dressing room at the King Power Stadium.
Of course they got swept up in it, anybody would.
They got a taste of European football in the summer when they were paid £20million to compete in the Champions Cup along with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Leicester were loving life and everybody was loving Leicester.
On the playing side, everybody involved with the title triumph cashed in.
New salaries, such as the £100,000 a week paid to Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, are nice work if you can get it.
So, too, was Claudio Ranieri’s £5m bonus for leading Leicester to their fairytale triumph last May.
Not everybody feels the same way around the place, though.
In the background there is a simmering resentment among some of the staff about their superstar treatment. Some of them have worked for Leicester for 30 years and got a bonus of a month’s salary when they won the league.
True, they did not put the ball in the back of the net 24 times when Leicester were bucking odds of 5,000/1 to hold off the threat of others.
What they did was to give everything, pouring their heart, soul and energy into the club to help them achieve their dream.
That should not be forgotten when the fat cats are picking up their massive salaries at the end of every month.
The country’s biggest clubs — Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool — can live with pressure and expectation.
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Leicester are struggling to adapt.
On the training ground, their well-respected coach Craig Shakespeare has become increasingly marginalised during their bad run.
It was only a few months ago that Shakespeare’s stock in the game was so high he was appointed part of Sam Allardyce’s coaching staff with England.
He left the national set-up when Gareth Southgate came in but he is still regarded as one of the game’s better coaches.
Despite this standing in the game, Ranieri is taking full responsibility for Foxes’ fall from grace.
This time last year they were well on the way to the title, top of the league with 38 points. Now they have only 17, with just one win since October. Mahrez, dropped by Ranieri for the 2-0 defeat against Everton, is suddenly walking about the place as if he is doing them a favour.
It is not a good look.
Neither were the 30,000 Vardy masks placed on the seats at the King Power on Boxing Day, sticking two fingers up at the FA after his dismissal against Stoke.
It invited more scrutiny, more attention to a club that has forgotten its values.
Player recruitment, a cornerstone of their success when Steve Walsh was chief talent spotter, has been a disaster.
Left-back Luiz Hernandez, signed from Sporting Gijon in the summer, cannot force his way into the side.
Nigerian Ahmed Musa, brought in from CSKA Moscow for £16m, has only scored twice since his arrival.
Islam Slimani, the big signing of the summer when Leicester paid Sporting Lisbon £30m, has scored six times.
They are all on big contracts, demanding huge salaries when Leicester came calling after their title win.
The club obliged, signing players to strengthen their squad as they prepared to make a proper go of defending their Premier League title.
Instead, they are having their faces rubbed in the dirt.
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