Finance specialist Kieran Maguire’s tweet about Aiyawatt (Khun Top) Srivaddhanaprabha being unwilling to keep pouring in his own cash to LCFC has supporters worried. Not to mention the Macquarie loans being a cause for concern. While the claim seems to be technically sound, it requires vital context.
All cash based Muzzy. Looks as if owner not willing to put cash in so go to Macquarie instead
— Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire) January 14, 2026
Money troubles
The financial atmosphere at King Power Stadium has reached a tipping point with regard to the ownership's hands being tied by their own volition as we enter mid-january 2026. Leicester City Football Club are reportedly embroiled in their latest round of Profit and Sustainability (PSR) hearings. In the meantime, loyal caring and heavily invested Foxes fans have staged multiple high-profile protests. The most recent backlash culminated in a boycott of the West Bromwich Albion visit to LE2. The general narrative morphed from one of 'intuitive and innovative management' to 'systemic crisis'. To many members of the Blue Army, this suspected and repeat reliance on Australian bank, Macquarie, for loans gives the impression of a club pawning or jeopardising its own future to survive a perilous present.
However, the fan base's worry may not be totally justified: Srivaddhanaprabha did ensure that the outfit didn't accumulate debt that would make even Warren Buffett worry. For a definitive conclusion on whether the City chairman is putting the organisation into further peril by acquiring these influxes of money, it is paramount to examine past bank charges to his own ledger. Top has done something almost unheard of in modern sport, especially in the apex of the Premier League, certainly not in the Championship: 'gifting' LCFC nearly £430million in total. How did the King Power chief 'generously' do this? He converted personal and parent-company loans into equity. First of all, he wrote off an eye-watering £124m debt in January 2025. This is not the behaviour of an owner who is not 'invested' in his club. He is in fact not 'asleep at the wheel', in spite of being absent from games and not appropriately reconnecting with the support. Though to pass up on being paid back almost half a billion pounds is a ridiculously endearing and genuine personal sacrifice. Why did Top do so? He intended to purge the club’s debt.
Why the concern at Leicester City, and is a resolution readily available?
The tragedy for everyone involved with Leicester is that this reported generosity has met an immovable object: Premier League and English Football League regulations. In trying to keep up with the big six (which he did for a few seasons) Top effectively tied by his own hands, so to speak. Profit and Sustainability laws limit how much cash an owner can personally lose. Therefore Top is legally barred from simply writing another (blank) cheque from his own coffers in order to cover the East Midlands team's bills.
This outlet is led to believe that the Macquarie loans (which are said to be secured against future television rights and parachute payments until 2028) are the owner's only remaining tactical move in the financial world. They provide the liquidity needed to pay staff (he should have applied before Christmas when the queues were shorter, in that case), whilst managing and (hopefully) paying the squad. This way, perhaps he won't trigger the "owner funding" alarms that lead to immediate point deductions.
This creates a painful paradox to understand. The City faithful are right to worry because the club is living on the edge of a financial precipice, with bank interest debt replacing interest-free support via Top. Although, he is also undertaking a well-used economic strategy; advisers have suggested using every complex tool available so to keep the club afloat. He is treading water within a system that punishes a chairman's natural instinct to invest funds.
There is a sobering and somber conclusion for the fans: Top appears to be a somewhat uniquely loyal owner, but he is now playing 'financial Tetris'. They compete in a very real 'game' with mega implications; he isn't too big to fail. The speed of falling tetrominoes coming directly at him has rapidly increased. LCFC bosses hope the stack of blocks does not reach the top of the 'screen' before legal space evaporates.
The Macquarie loans aren't a sign of a lack of care or invinvestment from the Leicester head honcho: they are indications of an owner running out of ways to help the organisation, save his reputation or even retain his position. It is essentially amortisation: spreading the costs, injecting funds (even his own capital) yet with loans eventually requiring settling.
On-pitch improvements over the next couple of years would invariably strengthen City's standing both financially and reputationally. Hope exists!