Fair to say, this season has not gone as Leicester City supporters would have hoped. When they were most recently in the EFL Championship two seasons ago, the Foxes romped to the title under Enzo Maresca, accumulating 97 points.
Right now though, they are all the way down in 14th place, albeit just six points below Wrexham, the current occupants of the final play-off position. Nevertheless, Saturday's 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Oxford United proved to be the final straw, with manager Martí Cifuentes sacked the next day. Well, considering they've won just two of their last eight, losing five, this was not overly surprising
Andy King, who won the League One, Championship and Premier League titles with the club as a player, will be in caretaker charge for the visit of Charlton on Saturday lunchtime. In summary, it does not appear likely that Leicester will be heading straight back to the top division this time round, with comments made by the owner this week suggesting things may get worse before they get better.
What Leicester's owner had to say
Speaking for the first time in a decade, Leicester City owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha gave an interview to Sky Sports News on Tuesday. He spoke about plenty of interesting topics, discussing the highest of highs, winning both the Premier League and FA Cup, as well as the lowest of all lows, the death of his father Vichai in a helicopter crash in 2018.
He also addressed concerns about the outcome of the club's ongoing Profitability and Sustainability hearing, fearing a significant points deduction;
"I am worried too. Every year we try to comply with PSR. The only one we don't know what it is, is the year we get relegated. And when we didn't plan for that, it hit us hard...I cannot say much, but let's wait for a decision, and the quicker is the better for all."Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha
Leicester managed to avoid a points deduction in the summer of 2024 by exploiting a loophole. In layman's terms, at the time of their breach, they were technically a Championship club, so could not be punished by the Premier League. Now though, following their instantaneous return to the EFL, a draconian sanction is expected to be handed out.
Any sort of points deduction, let alone a hefty one, would all but end Leicester's slim hopes of gatecrashing the play-off places, even with 17 league fixtures still to go. In hindsight, considering they were feebly relegated last season, they should have just taken the deduction then.
In that context, perhaps it is best that the imminent points deduction is not going to derail a serious promotion push. Nevertheless, it is still very galling for supporters. Less than four years ago, Leicester were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Roma in a European semi-final. Now, they're drifting in mid-table in the second-tier with little to play for, despite the fact that 40% of the campaign remains.