Leicester City dey for serious wahala now. Dem dey for brink of relegation to League One, and e fit happen as early as Tuesday night. The Foxes need to beat promotion-chasing Hull City to give dem small hope of survival, but even if dem win, results for other places dis week fit still seal dia fate.
Relegation go complete one of the most unwanted full-circle moments for sport. Leicester win Premier League title for 2016 with 5,000-1 odds, just seven years after dem end one-year stay for League One. Now, dem dey on the cusp of dropping back to third tier one decade after dem become English champions, and just five years after dem lift FA Cup. The fall don dey alarming.
E go be dia second relegation for two seasons and third for four years. Defeat by relegation rivals Portsmouth on Saturday don leave the Foxes eight points away from safety with just nine points remain to play for. Situation don dey dire, and Leicester fans don dey vex well well.
One exchange with supporters provoke Leicester’s former England international Harry Winks to return foul-mouthed verbal volley at supporters as he enter bus back from Fratton Park for weekend. Foxes goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, wey talk to BBC Radio Leicester without knowledge of him team-mate confrontation outside ground, say he “can understand the frustrations” of supporters.
The former Chelsea, Bournemouth and Stoke City goalkeeper say frustrations about this season na something players “share” too. But acrimony among fans dey deeper than dismal results wey squad with one of the biggest pay packets for division produce. Begovic say Leicester “will keep fighting” and argue say “everything is still possible” with three games remain.
“The belief still dey,” the former Bosnia-Herzegovina international talk. “E be big game against Hull, and if you win am, things fit look different. Of course we need small luck and small fortune for our side, but we go keep push as much as we fit.”
Begovic defiant words about relegation fit dey interpreted as fanciful for side wey fit get relegation confirmed for four of the next five days. If dem beat Hull on Tuesday, dia fight to beat the drop go prolong. But wins for West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday and Blackburn on Wednesday, plus Charlton draw, go still be enough to send dem down for midweek.
Even if those results go for Foxes favour, anything but win against promotion-chasing Millwall on Friday go send Leicester down. But with dia relegation rivals all for action on Saturday, e go just take results elsewhere to condemn dem to League One for weekend.
To simplify wetin dem need to stay up, Leicester – side wey don win just one match for three months – need to win all three remaining games and need multitude of results to favour dem for next 12 days.
Leicester City fans don dey fear for while now say the Foxes go dey going down. The six-point penalty wey club collect this season for historical spending breaches don hurt the side, but even without punishment, dem for dey for bottom three.
Don get protests from sections of supporters for owner Khun Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha to sell club and for sporting director Jon Rudkin to leave, but na players wey bear overwhelming brunt of criticism at Portsmouth. Chants of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” ring out from travelling fans at Fratton Park.
Number of supporters wey BBC East Midlands Today talk to afterwards say club suppose turn to its youngsters to see out season, and argue say number of high-earning, high-profile players suppose move on for summer. Foxes fan Nimesh Patel talk: “This na the worst I don see dem play for long time,” when dem ask am wetin he think about latest defeat.
“I no know who dem be,” he continue. “No get soul, no get compassion, no get urgency and no get real play or creativity. And for us to come hundreds of miles to watch this na atrocious.”
On May 2 2016, Leicester win Premier League title for first time, famously beating odds of 5,000/1 to do am. Results elsewhere confirm the triumph that day, so e no be until five days later wey Claudio Ranieri and him players fit celebrate with fans for first time, before dia final home match against Everton.
Ahead of the 3-1 win, fans inside King Power Stadium enjoy memorable serenade by opera singer Andrea Bocelli. E be as surreal as the feat itself, wey go dey proudly spoken about for generations to come. But that na then.
On Tuesday night, when Leicester host Hull – live on Sky Sports+ – relegation from Championship fit be confirmed just shy of decade – 3,642 days, to be exact – after dia glorious against-the-odds moment. If dem fail to win, dia fate go seal.
Dem no be first former First Division champions to drop to third tier within relatively short period after dia title win; Portsmouth win First Division for 1950 and dem relegate to Third Division for 1961, while Leeds win am for 1992 and don drop two divisions by 2007. Na Derby wey do am for shortest window, winning title for 1975 and dropping to Third for 1984.
For modern era though, nothing go compare to this. Leicester finish 12th for dia first season after title win for 2017, with added rigours of qualifying for Champions League – and reaching quarter-finals – taking toll. Two ninth-place finishes follow, before two fifth-place finishes and historic first FA Cup triumph for 2020/21.
For 2021/22, dem finish eighth and reach Conference League semi-finals. Following year, even with squad wey include Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jamie Vardy, dem relegate. Vardy roll back the years and hit 18 league goals as Enzo Maresca guide dem to Championship title at first time of asking, with 97-point haul for 2023/24.
But Maresca then leave for Chelsea. Leicester dey 16th when Steve Cooper sack for November 2024, but when Ruud van Nistelrooy – fresh from positive spell for caretaker charge of Man Utd – take over, dem drop like stone. Between December 14 and April 7, dem lose 15 of 16 Premier League games.
For 2022/23, relegation only confirm on final day. For 2024/25, dem go down with whimper. Get five games to spare. E be all change again for summer. Van Nistelrooy leave, with former QPR boss Marti Cifuentes taking hotseat.
Leicester dey fourth by start of September international break, don win three of dia first four, and still dey there by October 18, with just one defeat for first 10. But then dem start to slide – and e don get worse since turn of year. For 2026 so far, Leicester don win just two of dia 19 Sky Bet Championship matches.
Gary Rowett take over on February 18, almost one month after Cifuentes sack, but no fit arrest the slump. Meanwhile, earlier this month, club lose dia appeal against six-points deduction, impose for breaching Premier League Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) for 2023/24 season. E be first such punishment for dia history.
Without that, dem for still be only three points and one place above drop zone. With am, dem dey eight points adrift of safety with three to play. Defeat to Portsmouth last time out leave dem on brink.
Jordan Halford from Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast talk: “This no for happen if he [former owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha] still dey there. But unfortunately, him son no be quite the businessman or football club owner wey he be. Top [Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha] no dey even for club himself.”
“He do interview with Sky earlier this year, where he look so out of touch say we dey go for promotion. Everybody fit see say we go struggle to stay up, let alone go for promotion.”
“Leicester fans get plenty criticism for being entitled. We no dey ask to dey challenge for trophies like we dey under Vichai; we just dey ask to dey sustainably run like Brentford and Bournemouth and Brighton. No disrespect, but we be bigger clubs than all of dem.”
“If Vichai still dey here, this no for happen.” Sky Sports News‘ Rob Dorsett talk: Leicester go see significant hit for income if dem relegate to League One, with revenues predict to fall by around 50 per cent compare with Championship – and dem go dey earning less than one third of wetin dem dey earn for Premier League this time last year.
For club wey win Premier League 10 years ago, and FA Cup just five years ago, collapse for income go be particularly marked. While dem enjoy annual revenues of £187m for top division, e likely to be just over £100m come end of this Championship season, and go fall to predicted £60m per year for League One.
Despite crash for income, e go still make Leicester far-and-away biggest earners for division next season, with average revenues of League One club one-sixth of Leicester’s, at around £10m. Leicester speedy fall from grace go at least mean dem get some cushion financially as result of dia Premier League parachute payments, design to soften blow of top flight relegation for 2025.
That entitlement no go change, even if club suffer second consecutive demotion. However, those parachute payments reduce over time, and so that too go be much lower – around £10m lower for Leicester case – for next season. Any club wey drop out of top division receive roughly 55 per cent of dia Premier League entitlement for year one, 45 per cent for year two, and 20 per cent for year three.
That mean even if Leicester fit bounce back to Championship at first attempt for next 12 months, dia parachute payments go drop still further for start of 2027/28 season. Leicester wage bill go have to fall by about 30-40 per cent – some of that go happen naturally, with relegation clauses for players contracts.
But e likely to get huge churn for squad, with large numbers of players become unaffordable for League One club, or simply see to be of too high calibre to be content to play for England third tier. Most obvious of those na Abdul Fatawu, wey Leicester fit cash in for around £35m when dem relegate from Premier League last summer.
Number of top tier clubs prepare to pay that for him at time, Sky Sports News tell. Now, if Leicester dey for League One, him market value likely to be much lower – maybe £10m-15m lower, for any potential buyer – although you go expect Leicester to fight for best price dem fit get.
Jordan Halford from Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast talk again: “E be disgrace. I don talk say players no only be embarrassment to shirt, but I think dem be embarrassment to dia profession. E be highest paid team to get relegate to third tier. Leicester don only dey for third tier once for 148 years and we never suffer back-to-back relegations before.”
“When we get relegate for 2008, that don dey come for while, but e be almost reset wey we need. But we no be same football club wey we be back then.”
“We don win Premier League and FA Cup and we don play for Europe for two or three seasons. We be bit more of juggernaut now. Training ground cost nearly £100m, wage bill be more than Everton’s last season and e be highest for Championship. You no fit run club our size on revenue wey you get for League One.”
“This season na most embarrassing for club history – and I think this fit just be start. I no go bet against dem get relegate next season too.”
“I no fit think of fall from grace for English football like this. No for my lifetime, anyway.”
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