The Leicester City football empire has fallen: The Foxes face relegation for a second season in-a-row

The former Premier League winners will be playing in League One next season. (Image credits – Heute; licence details).

Leicester City have surely hit rock bottom as they face relegation in a second season in-a-row, dropping to League One, the third division league in English football for the first time since 2009. Their fate was sealed after they failed secure a win against Hull City last night, falling 7 points behind the safe zone with just 2 games remaining in the campaign.

The Foxes’ relegation marks one of the most disappointing downfalls in English football as they becane the first Premier League winners ever to subsequently get relegated to the third division after winning the prestigious title.

It surely wasn't supposed to end like this for Leicester City, definitely not for a club which once did the impossible just a decade ago. The same club which once scripted one of the most beautiful fairytale stories in football after winning the Premier League despite the famous 5000-1 odds against them, is now staring into complete darkness at the end of the tunnel.

The Foxes once were a club which nurtured young talents into world-class players, with Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Ngolo Kante, Harvey Barnes, and Youri Tielemans being the biggest names amongst them. However, their failure to develop on their success is primarily due to an improper structure within the club, which led to massive turbulence in the management.

Despite the Foxes regularly competing for domestic titles and securing finishes in top 5 season after season, some serious cracks in structure had begun to develop, but instead of working on them, everyone within the club chose to ignore them as they were fairly successful in securing their goals.

However, within just two years from their famous FA Cup win in 2021, the Foxes found themselves battling in the relegation zone, which caused the sacking of manager Brendan Rogers, leading to the opening of a can of worms. Since Rogers' exit in April 2023, Leicester City have had 6 different managers, with none of them lasting even a full year.

To make things even worse, the situation between the fans and the players is also degrading gradually, with a recent incident of an ugly verbal spat between a group of Leicester City fans and Harry Winks being the latest evidence of it.

Fans have even protested against the club's owner Khun Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and have been demanding the club's sale, along with the resignation of sporting director Jon Rudkin. Chants of “You're not fit to wear this shirt” were heard all around the stadium as the team fell to a hard defeat against Portsmouth on Saturday.

Evidently, the club's recruitment model has been very poor in the recent seasons as they have been unable to hold on to their star players, while even failing to sign suitable replacements for these players. All the big money signings that Leicester made to replace their previous star players have all flopped massively. This became one of the primary reasons for Leicester slowly losing their identity, which they had built over the course of the last 12 years.

The club’s ownership under the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was widely respected, but following his saddening and tragic demise, his son, Khun Aiyawatt , has evidently failed to carry forward his father's legacy, wity many external factors hitting the club brutally after the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Leicester City's revenue streams were significantly reduced because of which they couldn't sustain the expensive demands of running a top Premier League side. Unlike the “Big Six” clubs in England, Leicester lacked a strong revenue cushion, especially post the global pandemic. 

On top of that, the club could not build a proper sporting project with a reliable manager after the departure of Claudio Ranieri. Brendan Rodgers did well by leading them to their maiden FA Cup win while also securing European qualifications for the club regularly. However, as soon as the results dipped a bit, the club management didn't trust the former Liverpool manager and instead decided to let him go.

Following his departure, the managerial changes weren't up to the mark, and the sporting projects had no long-term vision, and the club, which once aimed for a top-four finish each season, saw their goal turn into mere survival in the league, and their philosophy became fragile, and the club lost its direction completely.

A disappointed Leicester City fan, Nimesh Patel, said, "This is the worst I've seen them play in a long time," when asked what he thought of the latest defeat against Portsmouth. (sic)

He added, "I don't know who they are; there is no soul, no compassion, no urgency and no real play or creativity. And for us to come hundreds of miles to watch this is atrocious.” (sic)

Despite going through such a turbulent period of time, the club never really had any shortage of talent, but constant instability in management and financial restraints pegged them back to where they are right now. Brendan Rodgers had also revealed in a press conference back in 2022 when the club was no longer benefitting from the King Power International Group, which had to put some severe financial restraints.

"Of course I want to improve the squad; I want to develop the squad. I said that midway through last year, but only if it's difficult financially. I really respect the club, so I don't go to war with them,” Rodgers said. (sic)

He added, "It's unfortunate. We have to do some work and if we can do that, then hopefully we can affect the squad because if we are going to compete anywhere near where we have been, then we need to be able to do that. If not, then it's a different expectation.” (sic)

Despite Rodgers' warnings, no one really expected the Foxes to go down this bad. To fall from being the Premier League champions to League One is something that has never happened in football, and it's a massive failure of the sporting project. It would further drain their financial condition, and almost all the players will leave the club to seek better opportunities elsewhere.

The club needs a new footballing identity along with smart and sustainable recruitment like Leeds United and Sunderland. The nostalgia of their famous 2016 win won't help them anymore, and if they still don't pick themselves up next season, it might take the club even further down.