What happened to Leicester City? Why Foxes face back-to-back relegations 10 years on from historic Premier League title
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What happened to Leicester City? Why Foxes face back-to-back relegations 10 years on from historic Premier League title originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Leicester City rocked the footballing world in 2016, when Claudio Ranieri's 5,000/1 underdogs sensationally swept to Premier League glory.
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It remains one of the most remarkable stories in sports history – Leicester's title win ranked 15th in The Sporting News' 140 Greatest Sports Moments, the second-highest placement for a soccer moment.
A decade on from their improbable triumph, the Foxes are set to see in the anniversary in ignominious fashion.
Following their relegation from the Premier League last season, the second time they have dropped down since being crowned champions, Leicester found themselves on the brink of dropping into League One, the third tier of English football.
Defeat to playoff-chasing Hull City on Tuesday, April 21, then sealed their fate. So, how did we get from there to here?
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Have Leicester ever been in League One before?
Leicester's only previous season in the third tier in their 142-year history came in 2008/09, following relegation from the Championship.
Under Nigel Pearson, the Foxes secured an instant return to the second level of the English football pyramid as League One champions, setting a host of club records in the process.
Between November 1 and March 7 of that season, Leicester went unbeaten for 23 consecutive league games and ended the 46-game season on 96 points, seven clear of Peterborough United in second. Their 27 wins and four defeats in a single campaign also represented club-best marks.
The Foxes made a strong attempt at earning back-to-back promotions as they reached the Championship playoffs in 2009/10, losing their semifinal against Cardiff City on penalties. Pearson left at the end of the season but would return for a second spell in charge at Leicester, a tenure that put some key pillars in place for their eventual Premier League title heist.
How did Leicester City win the Premier League?
One of the truly remarkable things about Leicester's title triumph was that it came on the back of another astonishing achievement.
In his second stint in charge, Pearson led Leicester to the 2013/14 Championship title with another dominant season as they won 31 of 46 matches and finished with 102 points.
Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy – a £1million signing from non-league Fleetwood Town in 2021 – all played key roles. Riyad Mahrez, an unheralded signing from Le Havre, made 19 appearances in the league.
Despite their impressive run to the Championship title, Leicester struggled on their Premier League return in 2014/15. A 4-3 defeat at Tottenham on March 21, 2015, was their 18th loss out of 29 matchesand they sat bottom of the table.
A 2-1 win over West Ham, thanks to Andy King's late winner, lit a fuse and Pearson's men won seven of their final nine matches to complete one of the most remarkable escapes from relegation that the Premier League has ever seen. They finished in 14th position.
Pearson was given much of the plaudits for his team's unforeseen escape, but a breakdown in relations with the club's owners led to his sacking mere days before a squad bolstered by the Christian Fuchs, Robert Huth and Shinji Okazaki returned for pre-season training. Leicester were tipped by many to be relegated under the hastily installed Claudio Ranieri – a popular figure in English football from his time in charge of Chelsea, but a coach widely assumed to have seen better days.
N'Golo Kante, an €8m signing from Caen, was also in situ as Mahrez scored in each of Leicester's opening three games, which included wins over Sunderland and West Ham. Ranieri's side won three and drew three of their first six before an entertaining 5-2 defeat to Arsenal, after which it was assumed they would revert to a lower-table mean.
But Vardy was already on the goal trail and set a new Premier League record by scoring in 11 consecutive matches when the Foxes drew 1-1 with Manchester United. In 10 games between the Arsenal loss and a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on Boxing Day, Leicester won eight and drew two to sit top of the table at Christmas.
Three draws in the next four — but also three clean sheets as a defence marshalled by Morgan and Huth in front of Schmeichel became more solid by the week – suggested momentum was waning, only for Vardy to score a screamer in a 2-0 win over Liverpool to tee up a trip to face Manchester City.
Manuel Pellegrini's side were still viewed as the most likely side to emerge from the pack and haul in Leicester, but Ranieri's men produced their performances of the season to run out 3-1 winners. Mahrez's majestic solo goal shortly after halftime told anyone still doubting that a Leicester title charge was a very realistic proposition indeed.
Danny Welbeck's last-gasp winner as Arsenal beat Leicester on Valentine's Day marked out Arsene Wenger's team as Ranieri's main challengers. But the Gunners followed up that success with one point from the next three Premier League matches.
Leicester, by contrast, never lost again, winning nine and drawing three of their remaining 12 Premier League games, including a run of five 1-0 victories in six after the Arsenal defeat. Tottenham's ill-tempered 2-2 draw at Chelsea on May 2 meant the Foxes were champions with two games to spare, finishing 10 points clear in the final analysis. They were serenaded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli on the field after Vardy scored twice in a celebratory, trophy-lifting 3-1 win over Everton at the King Power Stadium.
MORE:Who has scored the most goals in Premier League history?
Why did Leicester sack Claudio Ranieri?
You'd think completing arguably the most remarkable feat in the history of elite club football would have secured Ranieri a job for life. Try nine months.
A 2-1 defeat to Sevilla on February 23, 2017, in the last 16 of the Champions League – a hitherto unimaginable stage for Leicester to be playing on - marked a seventh defeat in nine matches across all competitions, a slump that left them one point above the Premier League relegation zone. Ranieri was sacked the following day.
Vardy and Mahrez signed new contracts to remain at Leicester but had fallen well short of their title-winning levels, while Kante's departure to help steer Chelsea to a league title was keenly felt.
Ranieri was replaced, on an interim basis initially, by Craig Shakespeare, formerly an assistant to both Pearson and the Italian. The new boss led the Foxes to six straight wins, starting with a 3-1 defeat of Liverpool and including a 2-0 victory to overturn the Sevilla tie, to quell relegation fears.
However, a poor start to the next season saw Shakespeare exit in October 2017, with French coach Claude Puel coming in later in the month. Puel's tenure was largely forgettable as he compiled a 34.3% win ratio from 67 games in charge. When he was sacked after a run of five defeats in six Premier League games in February 2019, it preceded another upturn in fortunes.
Did Leicester win any trophies after the Premier League?
Brendan Rodgers succeeded Puel after a trophy-laden spell at Celtic, rebuilding a reputation that was fairly battered by his final year in charge of Liverpool. The Northern Irishman also added a couple of honours to the Foxes' trophy cabinet.
The Premier League that Rodgers returned to was already vastly different to the one Ranieri won less than three years earlier. Klopp's Liverpool and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City were going blow-for-blow with gargantuan points totals. Winning the league was no more realistic than it was when Ranieri produced his miracle. Nevertheless, there is a case to be made that the Rodgers teams featuring the likes of Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho and Ayoze Perez alongside the evergreen Vardy were superior to Claudio's heroes.
An upturn in form saw Leicester finish 2018/19 in ninth position. Vardy ended with 18 Premier League goals and the following season won the Premier League Golden Boot. That inspired Leicester to the first of back-to-back fifth-place finishes, each time with agonising final-day defeats meaning they missed out on Champions League qualification.
The latter disappointment was short-lived as Youri Tielemans's brilliant strike gave Rodgers' men a 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final. They beat Manchester City by the same margin to lift the Community Shield back at Wembley three months later. Nevertheless, the failure to secure Champions League football meant a need to tighten the finances, marking the beginning of the end for Rodgers and a steep decline.
What's gone wrong at Leicester?
Tragedy engulfed Leicester City in October 2018, when club owner and Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed after his helicopter crashed outside the King Power Stadium following the team's home match against West Ham.
The club remained in the familiar, with Vichai's son Top taking charge and overseeing the appointment of Rodgers. However, their flagship King Power duty free business was badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Top has pumped millions into the club to clear debts, most notably a £124m debt-to-equity conversion in January 2025.
This was a mitigation for a club that had begun to operate beyond its means. Far from the bargain-basement scouting for gems overseen by Steve Walsh during the Pearson and Ranieri eras, Leicester spent significantly to back Rodgers on transfer fees and wages. Those taps being turned down to a trickle strained relations between the coach and his board. Rodgers complained publicly that Leicester was not the club "that it was a couple of years ago".
A sharp downturn in fortunes plunged Leicester into unexpected relegation trouble in the 2022/23 season and Rodgers was sacked after four years in charge. Former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith was given eight games to save City from the drop and he could not manage it, winning two, drawing three and losing three. Leicester's wage bill at the time was in excess of £200m – the seventh highest in the Premier League and 17th biggest in world football.
The summer 2023 appointment of Enzo Maresca as manager proved to be inspired as Leicester cruised to promotion at the first attempt, although Chelsea's subsequent poaching of the Italian tactician was another blow they are yet to recover from.
Getty ImagesSteve Cooper was appointed despite his association with rivals Nottingham Forest and things tuned predictably sour. Ruud van Nistelrooy took charge and dutifully went down with his ship. If their 2022/23 relegation was a huge shock, Leicester's 2024/25 demotion from the Premier League was a grim, inevitable trudge.
Transfer market mistakes when the room for them has narrowed have been followed by failures in the coaching department. The once-sought-after Gary Rowett is helming a forlorn fight against relegation to League One after Marti Cifuentes lasted half a season. Failure has come at a steep price, with last season's £71.1m pre-tax loss leaving Leicester £180m in the red over the past three years. This season, City have been deducted six points after they were found to be in breach of PSR regulations, something that will loom large in the final analysis. Fellow strugglers West Brom could yet face a similar punishment to hand Leicester a lifeline.
The remaining entitlement of parachute payments will not touch the sides of what Leicester, and a playing squad that will be gutted entirely, need once relegation is confirmed. It all makes lifting the Premier League trophy in 2015/16 feel like another lifetime ago.