'More than football' - Susan Whelan opens up on Leicester City role in rare interview

Leicester City chief executive Susan Whelan has explained why she "loves" her job at the club.

Whelan has been in the CEO role since King Power bought Leicester City from Milan Mandaric in 2010. During that time, she has overseen promotion from the Championship, the great escape, the Premier League miracle, FA Cup glory and three seasons of European football.

It is refreshing to hear that the club recognise what they mean to the community of Leicester and Leicestershire more widely, with Whelan also explaining the hardest aspect of running a football club.

“Of course I love it," Whelan told the Irish Times. "The buzz of a match day is very important. Being able to do the charity side of things, the business, the retail, the hospitality, it’s quite all-encompassing and it’s really great fun.

“It’s how much it means to so many people. It’s so important to remember that. It is for the community and for the fans and that is something that is really important. The visibility of a football club is very different to other businesses from that point of view.

“I think the hardest bit is the fact that there is so much that is outside your control. You have all of the infrastructure in place for success and all of the things that should guarantee success, but because it is sport there is no guarantee of the outcome. I suppose that’s what makes it exciting, but in other businesses you have a lot more levers you can pull to influence what the outcome is. When it’s sport it’s not quite as easy.

"We built it up slowly because we never wanted to be subject to terrible crises if there was a change in our league position. People depend on us for their mortgages, for their livelihoods, for all of those things.”

There is a spirit at