Precisely a decade after writing the most extraordinary top flight title story in the history of English football, and five years after winning the FA Cup, Leicester City are staring down the barrel at relegation to the third-tier.
The Foxes find themselves in the Championship’s relegation zone with, comfortably, the second-tier’s highest wage bill, as they look to scrape together the points they need under manager Gary Rowett.
A solid and reliable manager at this level, Rowett has overseen an initial improvement in organisation in his first five games, culminating in three valuable away points, two of which coming at automatic promotion contenders Middlesbrough and Ipswich.
The East Midlanders, though, are winless in 10 league games, going into Tuesday night’s hosting of Bristol City.
Leadership and recruitment under scrutiny
The problems start at the ‘Top’: Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha has a 55% majority stake in the club, as well as being CEO of sponsors King Power, but he probably has too much power.
Aiyawatt has somewhat fallen into the role because of circumstances with former owner Vichai, and may have felt forced to continue his father’s legacy, when in fact he’s a completely different person, possibly with different passions.
While there can be plenty of sympathy for the situation he’s been placed into, he’s also kept himself in this situation to some extent.
Firstly, by not selling his stake and passing the club onto better hands, although that process, even if sought, is never simple.
Secondly, by maintaining a process by which every club decision of any significance has to go through himself first, which may create a bottleneck situation whereby things don’t run smoothly because he’s not always able to give sign-off on things at the drop of a hat.
Top has maintained faith in Director of Football Jon Rudkin, who is coming under increasing pressure from supporters.
Speaking to people in the industry, the feeling emanating is that Rudkin is not a bad person, and few who have worked with him would say he’s a toxic influence, or anything of the sort.
He is, however, a bad communicator. He can be guilty of taking too long to respond to messages, and sometimes changing the goalpost after one thing had been agreed.
He’s not particularly good at his job, but he’s kept it for 12 years and counting because of his relationship with Top, who sees him as somebody he can trust in an industry he doesn’t know much about.
With all that in mind, it’s hardly surprising that Leicester have encountered difficulties, primarily through poor recruitment.
After winning the Championship title in 2024, the club spent £80.4m on seven of their eight permanent signings, which included Bobby Reid on a free, of which only Caleb Okoli and Abdul Fatawu have given the club any degree of ROI.
Summer 2025 saw the Foxes hit by sanctions which meant they couldn’t spend, and only the loan of Jordan James from Rennes has improved the squad.
Questions need to be asked of the recruitment process, and while sporting director James McCarron arrives with good pedigree, intent on a revamp in this area, he’ll merely be reporting to Rudkin.
So, whether he’ll have the influence required to oversee the changes that are necessary remains to be seen.
Dressing room culture and player power
One such essential change would be the culture at the club, including the amount of power players hold over the hierarchy. Yes, they’re dictating to the very people who are paying them obscene amounts of money through the nose.
The indications are very much that Harry Winks, and others like him, have clearly been a destructive influence on culture and morale over the last year or two, with the former Tottenham man seeming to have a direct line to the most powerful people at the club.
Reportedly, Winks played a part in the sackings of Steve Cooper and Ruud van Nistelrooy in the relegation season. This is grossly unhealthy.
Footballers are entitled to have their own independent views on the quality of management, and they’re also entitled to vent their frustrations around them to their friends and family when they get home.
What they shouldn’t be entitled to do, though, is go over the head coach’s back to complain about them to the board, and certainly not be listened to when they do so.
As much as Top and Rudkin are flawed in their decision-making, the tail still can’t wag the dog. Boundaries need to be asserted.
As a player, your responsibility is to put your frustrations behind you once you drive into the car park, and bring a positive, can-do energy to the building, regardless of how good you think the management is.
It needs to be a culture in which players look at themselves and what they can do better and differently, as opposed to a blame culture in which other people get problematized.
Winks and those who acted similarly to him deserve a significant portion of the responsibility for their actions in last season’s drop from the Premier League, and the impact that had on the environment.
A club at a crossroads
Moving forward, the club has to redesign and/or reassert certain boundaries and values, as a base from which to work.
Whether that rebuild happens in the Championship, or League One, remains to be seen.
Championship Relegation Odds
| Club | Odds to be relegated (Sky Bet) |
|---|---|
| Oxford | 8/13 |
| West Brom | 11/10 |
| Leicester City | 5/4 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 11/8 |
| Portsmouth | 5/1 |
| Charlton | 20/1 |
