The remains of a mural a few miles from the football stadium capture the current melancholy of Leicester, a city feeling resignation and not much hope ahead of a weekend of huge significance.
The artwork, created around two exterior walls of an electrical showroom soon after the team had won the Premier League, was a 12ft depiction of Claudio Ranieri and his all-conquering heroes — who had made Leicester an emblem of how anything is possible in life.
But the showroom was sold, the mural was half painted over in grey, and though an outcry drew this act of desecration to a halt, only the faces of Jamie Vardy and Andy King remain.