“This responsibility that I continue to live with is one of the greatest responsibilities in my life and I will continue to put everything into it—my passion, that of my family, and the entire King Power community.”
Those were the words Leicester City owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha used in his statement to supporters following last season’s relegation. Since then, things have improved dramatically as a result of the hierarchy’s decisions, but that optimism came to an abrupt halt this week.
On Thursday, the Premier League referred the club to an independent commission for allegedly violating Profitability & Sustainability Rules (PSR) and failing to submit financial statements to the league. Less than 24 hours later, the EFL slapped a player registration embargo on Leicester.
The club has come out fighting, saying they have filed legal actions against the Premier League and EFL. Some complimented the defensive aspect of the statement issued shortly after 4 p.m. on Friday, almost as if to say, ‘You’re defending your dignity, well done guys’.
However, a sizable segment of the fandom is tired. Just scanning social media, reading fan forums, and chatting with like-minded followers of the club in the last 24 hours, it appears like all trust between fans and the club has vanished.
How did Leicester go from being considered one of the best-run clubs in England to this? There are numerous reasons for this decline, but the basic truth is that the people in charge of the football club’s important decisions have made far too many mistakes.
Last year, the club announced a pre-tax loss of £92.5 million for the fiscal year ending in May 2022, an increase of more than £60 million from the previous year. In the financial accounts, the club recognized that the decision not to sell a key first-team player in the summer of 2021, while continuing to build the team, was the cause of the enormous deficit.
Leicester raised £255 million between 2016 and 2020 by selling one of their finest players every summer (N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire, and Ben Chilwell). The club had always spent money, knowing they would receive a large sum from a buying club, but 2021 was different.
Rachid Ghezzal, Filip Benkovic, Matty James, Sam Hughes, and Christian Fuchs were the only ones to leave. Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare, Ademola Lookman, Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand all arrived.
Aside from a few great European nights, the entire season was a failure. Leicester finished seventh, losing out on European football, and lost embarrassingly to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
Last year’s relegation from the Premier League was another level. The club’s and players’ belief that they were ‘too good to go down’ came back to haunt them when their fate was decided in May. And, despite a series of club choices that contributed significantly to the decrease, nothing changed.
The January transfer window catastrophe was not favorably received. We had no idea what was coming. City could potentially face charges from both the Premier League and EFL. Who was the last club to do that?
Anger, disillusionment, and a loss of trust are all emotions that I, like millions of others, have experienced in recent weeks as we seek to assign blame. It is impossible to determine the severity of the issues without seeing the club’s most recent financial statements and speaking with those mentioned above.
However, the fact that the club’s long-term destiny is in peril is terrifying and nearly unimaginable. If Leicester are not promoted, what prevents them from becoming the next Portsmouth? Coventry? Reading? Clubs that have fallen behind in the EFL have struggled to bounce back.
Even if we do make it to the top flight, key players will need to be sold to prevent more breaches. Nobody appreciates getting beaten every week. What should Enzo Maresca do?
All of this is in the same motion. How did this happen? The lack of transparency has wiped out any lingering trust in the club’s leadership. The club’s consistent short-term blunders continue to put fans in the dark about its long-term prospects.
Leicester City fans should be heard. Owners must respond to their inquiries. Now is the time for unity.
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