A one-time peripheral Leicester City player has been speaking about his time with the East Midlands outfit. As a matter of fact, this particular ex-Fox revealed that he wanted out of King Power Stadium for well over a year. He is well-versed in high profile and sideways transfers so understands the landscape and the so-called nature of the beast. Therefore the 32-year-old also provided fascinating and little-known insights into the market.
Although now at another team, the footballer in question has some fond, as well as not so affectionate, memories of his time on Filbert Way. That will be made totally clear to the Blue Army when I get going. Yet the Welshman mentioned another interesting revelation about his, once again, new home. The goalkeeper (I am really giving it away with these clues now) actually admitted to feeling like a 'fraud' after trying to leave the Foxes for approximately two fairly woeful seasons.
What former Leicester City stopper Danny Ward said about the Foxes and returning to his old club, Wrexham
At one point in time, the Foxes support actually really appreciated and liked Ward. One or two unfortunate moments off the pitch (partying after a loss, for example) started to turn fans against the Wales international.
Though his Carabao Cup penalty heroics was the cornerstone of his reputation with the LCFC fan base, it eventually turned sour. Ward's displays went from indifference to poor, to intolerable. His performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers last term was borderline unforgivable for many of us, including Foxes of Leicester.
"I knew the whole Leicester thing was coming to an end for a while,” Ward told That Wrexham Podcast.Danny Ward, Leicester Mercury
“I tried to get out 18 months before and then the year before, but it just didn’t happen for whatever reason. I knew I had a year to find something."
But Ward already knew his Leicester card was marked by the faithful and, seemingly, multiple managers and the powers-that-be. So he angled for a move over a good while.
"Luckily I had a call from my agent about the manager here (Phil Parkinson). We set up a Zoom call. I didn’t need it selling. I’m from the area and I used to come and watch before I was even in the academy the first time. It was perfect for me."
Nothing occurred for an age. Ward eventually arrived at an upstart team without contributing to their success either:
"You feel a bit of a fraud really. I left in the National League and then I come back and all the hard work these guys have done and you waltz in."