There have been many bleak seasons in Leicester City’s history. There’s a lot to choose from. Leicester, for instance, hold the record for the most (13) relegations from English football’s elite league. The season just ended has been regarded, by many observers, as the worst season in the club’s history, only the second time that the Foxes have been relegated to the third tier of English football. A major retrenchment, as a result, will be necessary.
What will be a surprise, particularly to younger, Foxes’ fans, however, is that there have been as many as eight seasons where Leicester teams finished towards the bottom of the second tier.
The Foxes narrowly avoided relegation to the third tier in four of these. In the 1913-14 season the club, then known as Leicester Fosse, survived on goal difference. In 1948-9 they were only two points above the drop zone and it was three points in 1978-9. Finally, older City fans will remember the 1990-1 campaign when a goal from defender Tony James in a 1-0 victory against Oxford United on the final day was enough to save his team from demotion.
On four other occasions, Leicester finished in the drop zone. In two of these seasons (1903-4 and 1914-15) the club finished bottom and second bottom respectively but survived when they were re-elected (there was no EFL third division in those days). Actual relegation to the third tier has only occurred twice, in 2007-8 (22nd out of 24 teams) and the season just ended (23rd out of 24).
So, which of these four campaigns ranks as the worst? Well, it depends on the measure adopted. The 2025-6 season looks especially bad because of the steep decline in the club’s fortunes. Few teams have had such a precipitous drop-off: Premier League champions to League One in ten years.
The four worst seasons in Leicester City’s history
season | played | won | drew | lost | goals for | goals against | points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1903-4 | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 42 | 82 | 22 (28)* |
1914-5 | 38 | 10 | 4 | 24 | 47 | 88 | 24 (34)* |
2007-8 | 46 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 42 | 45 | 52 |
2025-6 | 46 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 58 | 68 | 46 (52)^ |
* total for three points for a win in brackets. ^ six points deducted for a breach of the financial rules.
Statistically, though, this current campaign has not been the worst. Indeed, on most measures – goals per-game, and percentage of victories and defeats – this season has been the fourth most awful. On the most important measure - points-per-game - 2025-6 ranks third most abysmal and it would have been fourth but for the six-point deduction.
Pride of place for the worst season in Leicester’s history goes to the Fosse side of 1903-4 who were defeated in 52 per cent of the games they played whilst winning only 18 per cent and securing less than a point a game.
All of this, of course, will be little comfort to Leicester fans. It doesn’t take away from the fact that this season has been calamitous. Even the dreadful side managed by Ian Holloway in 2007-8 conceded fewer goals and won more points than the current crop of players. On the other hand, the fact that the Foxes have been at this low point seven times before does reveal that there is scope to come back stronger.
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