Leicester's Woes May Deepen: More Points Deductions and Relegation Threaten Amid Financial Crisis

A DECADE on from football’s greatest fairytale, Leicester are now facing up to fears that the nightmare could get even worse.

Relegation to the was a devastating blow to the Foxes fans who were celebrating the most remarkable of all Prem triumphs in 2026.

Leicester City CEO Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha has shouldered the blame Credit: PA Patson Daka is one of the players who will leave the club this summer Credit: Reuters Abdul Fatawu is one of the players the club is hoping will command a big fee this summer Credit: Reuters

But as the anger and hurt only starts to subside at the King Power Stadium, the reality of the extent of the mess Leicester are in, on and off the pitch, is starting to become clear.

A financial hole that looks as if it can only deepen.

And the knock-on effects which mean is just the next stop on the cycle of decline and not the finish point.

Relegation from the Prem in 2025 came after a season which brought losses of £71m, added to the 2023-24 deficit which led, eventually, to the six point deduction that effectively sealed their fate this time round.

Dropping out of the Prem saw a summer of transfer dealings which brought a cost cutting round believed to have shaved £70m or so off the £153m wagebill.

But although a number of the higher earners, such as , and striker are out of contract at the end of the season, others remain on longer-term deals that Leicester will struggle to afford.

Defender has another 12 months on his £3m-a-year deal, is due to earn £7.5m by the end of his in 2029, with also on £50,000 a week and Harry Soutar making £2m each season.

While Leicester will still get a Prem parachute payment of around £49m – a sum which will in itself dwarf the income of most of the teams in League One – their TV income from the EFL’s deal with Sky is likely to drop 80 per cent, to no more than £1.5m.

In a statement released soon after the final whistle of the 2-2 draw with Hull which confirmed the club’s fate, chairman Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha admitted: “The responsibility sits with me. There are no excuses.

“We have experienced the highest highs and now the lowest lows, and the pain is shared by all of us.”

He promised: “Our focus now is on what comes next.

“We will take the necessary decisions to move the Club forward, working together to rebuild, improve, and restore the standards expected of .

“Our objective is clear – to respond strongly and compete to move this Club forward again.”

Words are easier than actions. Especially with a club in a parlous financial situation.

In 2023, the chairman wrote off the £194m in loans made to the club by his family over the previous 13 years while a major cash wrangle over King Power’s long-standing Duty Free monopoly at Thai airports was only ended in December after fears the company might go out of business.

Leicester have loans totalling £98.7m from the Australian investment bank Macquarie, nearly half of which represented accelerated future transfer fee instalments while next season’s parachute payment was then pre-arranged and taken in January.

With last season’s losses, the £9m figure for 2023-24 and this season’s likely numbers to be horrible, it seems hard to see how even a mass sell-off of players over the next few months will prevent bosses handing the Foxes another charge of breaching its Profit and Sustainability rules, likely to mean a points deduction next term.

The size of any breach would determine the punishment, with a starting deduction of three points. It could be far more.

In addition, new EFL rules agreed for next season also cap League One clubs to spending just 60 per cent of their income from prize money or transfer fees on player-related costs.

No wonder some Leicester fans are beginning to question where the club is going. The future has never been more uncertain.