Leicester’s 2016 premier league title-winning fairytale story could be switching tunes to a bad one soon with them finding themselves relegated.
The Foxes find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Premier League standings, with just four points from their first nine games, their only win coming against Nottingham Forest who are also 19th on the Log, with a point more than themselves.
With this poor run of form, Brendan Rodgers has come under intense scrutiny, and reports of him getting sacked have come up so many times. But why has he not been let go?
Despite the departure of long-serving goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, key defender, Wesley Fofana, and midfielder, Hamza Choudhury joining Watford on a loan deal, this Leicester squad seems familiar with the one that ended last season in eighth place, missing out on European spots.
Their inactivity has fuelled fears that the club is on the brink of a financial crisis.
Despite a summer of record spending by Premier League clubs, Leicester was so economical with their transfers, signing Wout Faes from Reims for £15M and Alex Smithies from Cardiff for free.
Brendan Rodgers made it clear during the transfer window, that the club was in a position where they have to sell in order to buy, but even with the big-money sale of Wesley Fofana, they couldn’t recruit properly.
Leicester’s struggles this season have seen the morale at the King Power go down and the fanbase with High expectations is losing patience and is extremely dissatisfied with what the club is delivering.
The annual goal of disrupting the established “Big Six”, challenging for European qualification, and being the best of the rest is already having to be re-evaluated.
Five successive top-10 finishes and back-to-back European qualification, as well as a first FA Cup victory, helped make Leicester’s blueprint one to follow for many clubs. For the plan to work, everyone inside the club has to be on the same page, pulling in the same direction, but there are signs that that isn’t the case at the moment.
The Financial Issue of Leicester
Leicester has made losses of £120 million over the past three years after recording profits for the previous four years but was not actually that close to breaking the Premier League’s financial fair play (FFP) rules.
As per The Athletic, Clubs are allowed permissible losses, such as the money spent on COVID-19, community projects, the academy, and infrastructure including the training ground and the women’s team, which meant that Leicester was inside the threshold of £1055 million of “losses” allowed over three years.
Leicester’s wage bill reached a record £192m in the most recent accounts and financial losses for next year could be over 90 million pounds
Vysyble’s John Purcell analysis shows that Leicester City’s wage-to-revenue ratio has been the highest in the Premier League from the 2017-18 season to the 2020-21 season.
With such a percentage increase in staff costs to revenue ratio, it’s important that cutting costs would be critical for them at King Power.
Is It Time To Move Past Brendan Rodgers?
The Leicester City management could not have fathomed the deep waters they find themselves in now with 9 Match Days gone. Picking up just four points from a possible 27. And it doesn’t come easier as they face Crystal Palace, lunchtime tomorrow.
The Foxes had thought their team was capable of being competitive, at least an European finish, and domestic cup success, but it’s beyond that right now.
Due to financial constraints, the Leicester board is reluctant to pay hefty compensation to sack the manager.
Reports have it that it would cost about £22M to get rid of Brendan Rodgers and end his services, but keeping him likewise as things are is risking a possible £150M through the relegation one-way.
One could make excuses for Leicester having to have played the bigger sides amidst these fixtures, but they’ve also lost to sides they were expected to get points off.
Asides from that, Leicester’s manner of conceding goals is not anything to show that things could change under Rodgers.
So, Leicester is in something of a conundrum. Do they get rid of Rodgers, cut their losses, and deal with huge pay? Or do they risk underperforming management, with a possibility of further financial struggle that would come with a potential lower mid-table, or worse, relegation?
It remains to be seen, but the perception of the Foxes getting relegated has to switch tunes with alacrity.