Fan Talk with Fraser T Smith: Grammy winner believes Foxes can bounce back

Lifelong Leicester fan Fraser T Smith knows his beloved side's battle to stay in the Premier League is going to go right down to the wire ahead of Saturday's game against Wolves.

In an exclusive interview for LiveScore, the two-time Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter and solo artist tells all about his best Foxes memories, their recent struggles and his Leicester-supporting friends in the music world. 

Early memories

Having been born in Bedfordshire, people often rib me and other Leicester fans saying 'how's it been since becoming a fan in 2015-16?'. But I've been going since the age of six.

My dad was born in Stamford and he says he used sneak me under the turnstiles at Filbert Street. He'd been a massive fan all of his life so there was no other option than to be one too, really.

Fraser T Smith's EP We Were Still Are by Future Utopia will be released on June 9. Check out his current single Your Love here.

Title dream

After we dodged relegation in 2014-15, we decided to get a season ticket for the following campaign because we thought it would be the last one in the Premier League for a while.

So me and my dad went to so many games during that title-winning campaign and it was unbelievable. Jamie Vardy had that run of scoring in 11 games on the bounce and it was just this surreal season.

Even when we were top of the league, we were still all signing 'we are staying up', there was still the feeling that whatever happens, we're still not going to get relegated. It honestly just felt like we were dreaming.

Celebrations

When we did eventually win it after that game where Chelsea drew with Tottenham, it was mayhem in my house. Champagne corks were flying everywhere.

I remember wanting to call my dad on the phone and there were tears running down my face.

At Leicester, we call my dad the Grinch. He never gets too carried away. I thought I was going to have this really emotional chat with him. 

He said 'yeah it's amazing isn't it. Tell you what though, we're really going to struggle next season if we don't buy some players'. 

Turns out he was right because we didn’t buy that many and we did struggle that first season after!

Rodgers tenure unravels

I personally loved Brendan [Rodgers]. We had some excellent seasons under him in Europe and obviously won the FA Cup.

But towards the end of his tenure, it just felt like something wasn't right. I don't know whether it's the owners or something else, there just seems to be something weird.

You're just looking at the players and they're not clicking. If you look at that team that won the Premier League, it’s probably not as good as our current one on paper.

Getting behind Smith

I don’t think Dean Smith would have been everyone's first choice but I believe he is capable of keeping us in the Premier League.

He kept Aston Villa up against the odds, of course, and the return of Craig Shakespeare will be massive.

I don't know how this will go down with others, but if it was up to me I actually would have got Nigel Pearson back in until the end of the season.

I'm a massive Pearson fan. He was an unsung hero during that Premier League win for what he did the season before and I think he could have galvanised the group.

Remember the good times

Whether we get relegated or not, at the end of the day I've seen my team win the Premier League and win the FA Cup. 

Sometimes you just need to go down and go back to the drawing board, as much as it pains me to say it.

I certainly don't hope it happens but sometimes you just need to rebuild. We've certainly had our fair share of good memories along the way!

Foxes family

Serge [Pizzorno], the bassist and now singer of Kasabian, is a massive Leicester fan and we've become very close.

The players still walk out to Club Foot, which is always a massive moment. He used to sit two rows behind me and I was always a bit shy to go and say hello.

His manager reached out to me and now we've worked together, we have become good friends. When we're not talking about music, we're talking about the team!

We were out with Vardy a few weeks ago too and he's a great guy. He's such a massive hero of mine. 

There was a couple of times where he came into the studio, he fancies himself as a rapper!

Fraser T Smith was talking to Cian Cheesbrough