Leicester City brand value plummets after sacking manager Claudio Ranieri
Achieving a "sporting miracle" by overturning 5,000-1 odds to win last year's Premier League earned Leicester City a place in the hearts of millions around the globe.
A team of unheralded players, a likeable manager written off by the pundits in Claudio Ranieri and their underdog status earned the Foxes a unique brand image compared to the monied elites who commonly dominate the upper echelons of the league.
Yet after sacking Ranieri and citing the club's relegation-threatened position, Leicester City's owners have jeopardised their brand which has already haemorraged support.
Since announcing the Italian's dismissal on Thursday evening, Leicester City's brand value has plummeted by over 14 per cent on social media index Brandtix.
Brandtix combines traditional performance stats are combined with the number of social media follows and the sentiment of all social media posts regarding a particular club to come with an overall brand score.
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Despite the champions securing a crucial away goal at Sevilla in their first ever Champions League knockout tie, over 70 per cent of all posts made on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook concerning Leicester in the last week has carried a negative sentiment.
"This shows how much Ranieri was integral to the Leicester City brand," said Brandtix chief executive Jon Rosenblatt.
"He was the face of the club and their global fan base fell in love with him, and the romantic tale of their championship.
"If you lose the face, identity and heart of the brand, you're going to pay a big price from the fans and customers."
Leicester were last season's biggest risers on Brandtix's rankings of Premier League brand value, after boosting their social media following by over 3m.
However, the club's struggles on the field this season have manifested in a struggle to win over new social media followers.
Over the last month Leicester hae acqvuired 65,000 new followers on social media. That's less than 10 per cent of the 688,000 people Premier League leaders Chelsea have attracted to their channel and even a smaller fraction of the 1.2m Manchester United have accumulated in the same period.