ON May 2, 2016, Jamie Vardy hosted the party of all parties after Leicester completed their miraculous 5,000-1 fairytale and were confirmed as Premier League champions.
On May 2, 2026, Leicester will play their final game of a humiliating Championship season, already relegated and plunging to League One.
Leicester City have been relegated to the third division of English football Credit: Getty
They won the Premier League ten years ago Credit: Getty
Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at home to Hull – just the fifth team to achieve the unwanted feat in the Prem era – and they will play third-tier football for the second time in their 142-year history.
The first time around, Nigel Pearson spearheaded a dominant campaign and the Foxes topped the 2008-09 table with ease to ensure an immediate return to the Championship.
Not even the most optimistic Leicester fan can dream of this broken club doing the same in 2026-27.
will be in the same division as Bromley. Leicester City will be in a lower division than Lincoln City.
Leicester City could play Coventry or Nottingham Forest’s kids in the EFL Trophy – while an FA Cup derby with a local rival relies on getting through two rounds.
, Andrea Bocelli and the 250,000-strong turnout for the title parade a decade ago.
Even just five years ago, Youri Tielemans’ wondergoal won the club their first FA Cup – a year before facing Roma in the Stadio Olimpico for a European semi-final.
But a – the first in Leicester’s history – entitled players, horrendous transfer strategies and so-called “internal reviews” have led to three relegations in four years.
On their current trajectory the club are more likely drop down to League Two than return to the Championship Credit: Getty
Now they will be below Lincoln City in the EFL pyramid and facing Bromley Credit: Getty
It’s like a version of Lite at the King Power – a mess on and off the pitch, terrible recruitment and anyone who leaves seems to improve (even Wout Faes).
Leicester – with their £100million training ground Forest must surely be tempted to buy off them – now boast to be relegated from both the Premier League and the Championship.
At this rate, they’ll add League One to that in 12 months’ time.
Loanee Jordan James, named Championship Young Player of the Year, has been pretty much the only shining light this term.
But his comment in December echoed James Maddison’s infamous “we’ll be absolutely fine” tweet in March 2023.
James said: “If you think Leicester can be in League One, then you have lost your mind.”
Leicester fans haven’t lost their mind, they’ve lost their football club.
It is a mess from Top to bottom.
Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha took over as chairman in devastating circumstances following the awful helicopter crash involving his father Vichai outside the stadium in 2018.
Sadly, Top does not have the same business acumen as Vichai.
Instead, he has an unwavering, and some would argue misguided, loyalty to Jon Rudkin.
Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha and Jon Rudkin shoulder a lot of the blame Credit: Getty
Former chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha – Top’s dad – tragically died in 2018 Credit: Getty
His passing in the helicopter crash at the stadium rocked the club Credit: Getty
Rudkin has been at Leicester for 30 years and was an academy coach then academy director for 11 of those before being appointed Director of Football in 2014 and inexplicably promoted to Chief Football Officer just last month.
In the eyes of much of the Foxes faithful, to say he is out of his depth in a puddle would be generous.
Top and Rudkin, the Chuckle Brothers spotted laughing together in the posh seats as Leicester were relegated a year ago, are the primary antagonists for furious fans, especially after chief executive Susan Whelan was pushed out for reportedly trying to block another controversial sponsorship deal with unknown crypto casino BC.Game.
There has been no plan for management as perfectly modelled by Brighton and Brentford – oh, the halcyon days of when Leicester were the example to follow.
They – Leicester would still be in the relegation zone even without the punishment for flagrant PSR breaches.
They dished out massive, long, expensive contracts for ageing players willy-nilly – , , to name a few.
A barely-believable £25million was spent on when they seemingly had no money to invest elsewhere.
Skipp, ironically, has been… satisfactory.
James has been the standout performer, albeit the bar is very low (what was that about not falling in love with a loan player?).
Abdul Fatawu scored some bangers early on but faded while teenagers Louis Page and Jeremy Monga, with a combined age of 33, have tried their best with surprisingly limited opportunities.
The same cannot be said for the rest.
Pundits and those outside the club will point to the 1770 Premier League appearances among the squad and ‘senior pros’ such as Ayew, Winks, Vestegaard, and .
Many will lazily say “this team is too good to go down” and “they’ve got so much quality”.
Performances from senior players have been unacceptable Credit: Getty
The Foxes are miles behind being the model organisation they used to be Credit: Getty
Harry Winks got into an angry spat with a fan after defeat away to Portsmouth Credit: X/craiglcfc
Well, not on the evidence of this season. Each have been a disgrace .
The square root of zero quality on display and even less fight, effort or desire.
The most passion Winks has shown after Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth.
He showed plenty of his ten-cap international experience and class under Enzo Maresca two years ago.
But since then, he has epitomised much of what is wrong with Leicester.
He fell out with Steve Cooper, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Marti Cifuentes, refused to move near or even stay at the training ground, posted pictures drinking during a match and after losing to Maresca’s Chelsea in November 2024, the day before Cooper was sacked.
Winks was booed before kick-off and while warming up against Hull following the Fratton Park fracas.
So when – eventually brought in 24 days after Cifuentes went and who has overseen one win in his 12 matches – opted to put him on when leading 2-1, it was no wonder the atmosphere changed and no surprise Leicester conceded moments later.
Speaking of atmosphere, it has been truly toxic among the fans – but let it be clear, that is a response to what has been going on inside the club and not a cause.
Everyone is entitled to support their club how they want but things have got nasty and vitriolic between the two main camps: King Power In and King Power Out.
Those staging protests, chanting against the board or even boycotting and cancelling season ticket direct debits cannot comprehend how others are happy to sit passively and watch this once-great ship sink to newer, deeper, darker depths – even clapping the players off after relegation was confirmed.
Others insist they will support the team and the players no matter what – even after losing to Southampton when 3-0 up on the hour mark.
So much for the ‘Foxes Never Quit’ mantra…
The last few years have been nothing short of embarrassing – and the memories of ten years ago arguably make it even worse.
Of course, and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, but it sure makes this current plunging plight even more painful, putrid, profligate and pathetic.
MY VIEW: Leicester's comedy of errors - from promotion delusions to sausage roll shirts
By
BOUBAKARY SOUMARE and Ben Nelson have scored Leicester’s two own goals on the pitch during this humiliating relegation season.
The rest came off it from Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha, Jon Rudkin and the PR disasterclass at the King Power Stadium.
The campaign got off to a terrible start when Jordan Ayew jumped at the chance to snatch departing GOAT Jamie Vardy’s No9 shirt.
Chairman Top then skipped most home matches and was barely visible.
When he did come to the Oxford game in January, a 2-1 defeat to the side who had already sacked Gary Rowett, he sat down for a rare set of interviews in which he openly admitted he “still does not understand” why Leicester were relegated in 2023 and that the club “need to identify the problem and fix it”.
Leicester’s budget for this season was based on immediately getting out of the Championship – through promotion not relegation – and when asked what happens if the Foxes fail to go up at the first time of asking, Top simply replied: “We promote next season.”
The quote has become a mocking catchphrase for many of us fans.
Those same supporters could only laugh when the club inexplicably released T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of the popular sausage rolls they discontinued selling in the concourse.
A ten-year anniversary match to celebrate the Premier League title win was announced on the eve of the Hull game which confirmed the demise to League One.
That was also the deadline date to renew season tickets despite our fate not being decided and now getting charged the same price to watch Bromley and Mansfield as Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City a year ago.
To make it worse, the renewal promotion had the tagline: “Our next chapter.” Can you possibly be more out of touch?
Safe to say, I – and many of my friends – did not take up the option and have cancelled our season tickets. We’ve had enough of this nightmare tragedy.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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