Les-TA-Jon

15 hours ago, fleckneymike said:

To rely so heavily on a 22 year old coming back from a serious injury once again highlights the failings at the club.

This. So hard to play when so much is expected of you all the time. At home games, if Fatawu has possession on the halfway line, the whole crowd goes up in anticipation; it's like he's expected to go half the length of the pitch, beat everybody and lay on an assist or score a worldie each time he has the ball. 

People can complain about and blame Fatawu all they want, but we'll likely not have a player anywhere near as good on our books for another 5ish years, on our current trajectory. 

16 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

Some of the players who signed deals before Sep 2025 on a 3 year deal or more are exempt from the SCMP rules so it’s quite possible that some of those players will remain 

What rule is this? 

And do you mean SCMP or PSR? Because PSR cares about book values and losses, and SCMP only cares about overall player trading income (and 75%/60% turnover and equity injections) vs player costs

3 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

El Khannouss 

Already gone

For added context...

Sell with profit:

- Fatawu

- Mavididi(?)

Probably break even/cover wages:

- Faes

- Winks

Fail to sell/fail to profit:

- Okoli

- Kristiansen

- Souttar

- Skipp

The risk being that sell the youth products (easier to sell, better profit) in order to make the money we need...

1 hour ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

Could we go down to league 2?

Yes absolutely. 

With potential financial problems - you're looking at minus 12-18 points for administration and delayed payments. So 68 points to be 'safe'? 

Even without the financial problems - you're looking at a huge turnover of players - we will likely have to sell anyone worth anything, leaving us with a threadbare team of prematurely promoted youth products and players that don't want to be here but couldn't find a way out. 

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

RVN was on a long term contract and we had to wait until 1 July to sack him for PSR reasons. Rowett’s contract ends after we play Blackburn. 

RVN was actually sacked late June in the end. But yes, it was definitely PSR related. I think they were leaving it until as late as possible in the financial year to decide which accounting period could absorb the cost. 

1 hour ago, nnfox said:

As much as bad decisions have harmed the club, I'd argue that periods of indecision, especially around managers have cost us more.

 

I'm genuinely at the point of not particularly caring who the manager is right now, but what I would like to see is some quicker decision making.

 

If Rowett is going, announce it this weekend.  If he's staying, announce it this weekend.  If he does leave, get on with appointing someone asap.  Please don't drag it on as we have done previously, let's get someone in before 1st June so they can have a decent summer of watching the tapes back, understanding what players we have, what we need and then get cracking so that we hit the ground running on the first day of pre-season training.

 

My fear is that after the final whistle this weekend, Top and Rudkin will switch their phones off and put their out of office on until the training ground reopens for pre-season and we'll be starting from the pit lane, instead of being at the front of the grid waiting for lights out.

Agree - but this bit is fantasy land because there's going to be a huge turnover of players due to our crazy wages. Most players will want out and we'll need to sell a bunch too. 

I have no positivity or optimism for next season and think administration and/or relegation to League Two is a real possibility. 

However, the only thing to cling onto right now is that there's so many unknowns (manager, player turnover) that any sort of prediction is almost pointless. 

11 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Rowett is a complete stain.

 

Should have been sacked Tuesday night and king give the job with instruction to play the kids.

 

Disgraceful line up.

And let this disgraceful squad skulk off and avoid more scrutiny/embarrassment? No thanks. 

3 minutes ago, Stavros81 said:

Anyone else hoping we get absolutely battered tonight? Rather Millwall go up than Ipshit 

First time I've ever genuinely wanted us to lose a match. That's what Topkin have done to us. 

3 minutes ago, Dan said:

Got a year ban for being in the vicinity of a smoke bomb, with no proof I'd done it, despite no previous track record. So literally a ban for existing. Appealed it and upheld.

 

Got it extended a year ago for trying to go to a game. I'll own up to that one. Then again I shouldn't have been banned so ultimately, still mostly their fault. In hindsight this was a great decision as I'd have had to have watched most of the 2025/26 season.

 

Got it extended by another year back in January for something posted on social media.

 

The fact they've completely crashed and burned on the pitch is quite funny to me tbh. Quite self-assuring.

So is that  3 year ban in total then? Getting banned for a social media posting is crazy (although I don't know what you posted or where)

I'm out of the loop - what did @Dan do and what did the club do in response? 

And are fans really getting bans for stuff they post on social media? 

1 hour ago, Chelmofox said:

Genuinely interested to see what gets served up tonight. 
 

For all Rude’s faults, he handled the initial pathway for Monga well and we had the final farewell of Vardy. This time around we have nothing.
 

I cannot believe for one minute that Gary is going to start reintroducing the youth. Not sure if I was the club management I would trust him to do so. But he can’t serve up Winks, Daka and Ayew, and no loan player (apart from James) should be in the squad. Surely Riccy doesn’t start either but gets a couple of minutes. I bet he never thought his goodbye would be to a 1/4 full stadium after defeat to Millwall. 

I want all of our worst, lazy, most toxic players doing 90 mins. This is their last home match before they all skulk away. 

53 minutes ago, Chrysalis said:

Then within a few years their players develop the same issues, lack of fitness, poor mentality, thinking they made the big time etc.

I really don't get this excuse. Isn't Seagrave comparable to some of the facilities at the 'big clubs'? 

57 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

 

edit

 

Borrowing to Pay "Grocery Bills": Analysis from Kieran Maguire and the BBC highlights that the club has been using "tomorrow's money to pay for today".

The loan funds were immediately required to cover a cash-flow deficit caused by high wages and outstanding transfer fee instalments.

Resulting Cash Void: Because the bank (Macquarie) has already provided the advance, the actual cash that will reach the club's bank account when the Premier League pays out in 2026/27 is expected to be as little as £2 million.

Liquidity Crisis: Accounts as of June 2025 showed the club’s cash balance had dwindled to just £4.5 million, emphasizing the immediate need for the January 2026 "cash boost" from the Macquarie loan refresh. 

Presumably this is why there's things like delayed Christmas pay for staff and rumours of various suppliers not being paid creeping in...

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

How the "Glass Ceiling" has dismantled Leicester City…

Saw this on some facebook post. There's some truth to it but it's largely nonsense. 

Quote

 

In 2016, Leicester City did the impossible. They shattered the status quo of English football, proving that a "small" club could not only compete but conquer. 

However, ten years on from that historic title, the narrative has shifted from fairy tales to financial ruins. As the BBC recently detailed, the Foxes are facing a staggering decline—relegated from the Premier League in 2025 and now, in 2026, finding themselves confirmed for a drop into League One.

While official reports often point to "mismanagement," a deeper look suggests a more calculated culprit: the Profit and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). Far from being a tool for "stability," PSR has become a financial guillotine for any mid-sized club daring to challenge the elite.

 

Except we are the only team to be hamstrung by PSR enough to tumble down the leagues...

Quote

The Cost of Ambition
The trap is simple and deadly. When a club like Leicester breaks into the top six or qualifies for Europe, they must invest to compete. You cannot fight on four fronts with a Championship-level squad. Leicester did what any ambitious club would do: they bought talent and offered competitive wages to sustain their presence at the top.
The reality for any non-"Big Six" club is that European qualification isn't guaranteed every year. Without the massive, recurring commercial revenue of global giants like Manchester United or Liverpool, a single season out of Europe becomes a financial catastrophe under PSR rules.

Correct - but it was largely ever thus, and this is not a PSR specific problem per se. 

Quote

Leicester’s recent accounts tell the story: a £71.1m loss in their 2024-25 relegation season, following years of heavy spending to maintain their status. Because PSR limits losses to roughly £35m a year (averaged), the moment the European TV money stopped, the club was already in breach. They weren't being "reckless"; they were being ambitious in a system designed to punish it.

They absolutely were - if your financial model relies on qualifying for europe every year then you know that not qualifying for europe is a big vulnerability. And everyone knows how competitive the PL is, so the likelihood of doing so is slim. So the club would have known they had constructed a house of cards. 

Look at some of the evidence the club put forward to the independent commission who decided on the 6 point deduction. The club budgeted that year (22/23) on the assumption they would finish 8th. That was based on having finished 8th, 5th and 5th in the preceding 3 seasons. And yet they knew that thing were on the wane under Rodgers and that the PL is incredibly competitive and that they would be making ZERO signings

Under those conditions how on earth was predicting an 8th place finish part of sensible planning? 

Note that finishing 18th instead of 8th cost the club £31m in reduced merit payments + the cost of sacking Rodgers and staff (rumoured to be at least £10m+) + the cost of appointing Dean Smith - all before you factor in the actual cost of relegation...

Quote

 

The "Glass Ceiling" Policy…
PSR was introduced shortly after Leicester’s 2016 triumph. It is hard not to see this as a defensive wall built by the established elite. By limiting spending to a percentage of revenue, the rules ensure that those with the highest turnover stay at the top.

If a club invests to "better themselves," they are labeled a financial risk. If they don't invest, they get relegated. It is a "heads they win, tails you lose" scenario for the authorities. Leicester is the primary evidence: a club that challenged the top table is now facing bankruptcy because they tried to stay in the fight.

 

This is incorrect. It's about allowable losses, not spending limited to a percentage of revenue. 

Leicester didn't get relegated due to lack of investment. They got relegated because they backed themselves into a financial corner and left themselves no room to freshen the team, then took too long to change the manager and when did they had no plan, wasted vital fixtures and then appointed someone who was worse. 

Quote

The League One Nightmare…
Now, the situation is critical. Leicester is heading to League One, but the players remain on Premier League level wages—contracts signed when the club was fighting to maintain its top-flight status. With PSR scheduled to be introduced to League One next season, Leicester is effectively being forced into a corner where bankruptcy isn't just a fear; it's a mathematical probability.

This is incorrect. There is no PSR in League One. 

Quote

The authorities have created a system where a club’s past success becomes the weight that sinks them. High-earning players who were assets in a Premier League campaign side are now "toxic liabilities" under current financial rules.

Only if they're crap players, managed by crap managers, allowed to stay at the club and lose all confidence and motivation. If they were 'assets in the Premier League' then surely they would be good enough to avoid relegation to League One? 

Quote

 

Conclusion
The downfall of Leicester City is not a failure of the club; it is a success of a system designed to keep "The Other 14" in their place. PSR hasn't saved football; it has sterilized it. If the authorities truly want a sustainable future, they must stop punishing ambition and start implementing solutions that protect clubs without killing their dreams. 

Until then, Leicester stands as a grim warning: in modern football, if you fly too close to the sun, the Premier League will clip your wings!

 

It absolutely is a failure of the club. They've had 3+ years and multiple windows to cut their cloth accordingly, remove deadwood, refreshen squad and change the model but haven't. And again - countless other clubs have been able to compete whilst adhering to the rules. 

1 hour ago, cityfanlee23 said:

It just cannot be understated how important this next appointment is, I'd argue it's more important than any manager we've appointed in the last 30 years. 
Our finances are potentially worse than ever, we've been in admin before, but never with this level of debt. The pressure on the next manager will be absolutely insane. The next manager needs to be a leader and needs to be able to spot good personalities in players (something we have failed to do for years), needs to be charismatic enough to convince young players we are the hot destination to come and springboard their careers on, needs to be tactically astute to be able to convince premier league teams that sending us their best loan players will massively help their career, needs to have the strength to stand up to the board, needs to be able to win the fanbase over and have a clear plan and direction that gets us excited again. 

Usually you can get away with 1 or 2 of those traits, we need all of them if we are going to get out of this mess. Whoever becomes the next manager needs to seriously look in the mirror and step up, because I don't think many will realise just how big of a job this is in the next 12 months and just how much pressure they will be under from all angles. 

God knows who this magician is, but the club could very well hang in the balance on getting this next appointment right. 

Almost zero chance the club can identify this person, let alone actually appoint them. 

3 minutes ago, TiffToff88 said:

How are you defining youth players here? Nathan Opoku is 24

Youth/fringe/out on loan is probably more accurate then

45 minutes ago, when_you're_smiling said:

Is that more or less of a cheat than the likes of Villa selling their Fan Zone to themselves for £55m?

Any amount of whataboutism doesn't mean we didn't cheat. 

And even then we, evidently, cheated in a less effective way than anyone else, since we overspent to end up with 3 relegations in 4 years and a terrible squad of average/toxic overpaid players, now resulting in an existential crisis for the club.  

10 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

Unfortunately this is what happens when you're perceived as cheating I guess 

I mean, didn't we reach some sort of settlement with the EFL after overspending, in the 2014 promotion? 

We 'breached' in 22/23 and potentially 23/24 but got away with it on technicalities and loop holes - Leeds particularly, who didn't go up in 2024 would rightly feel aggrieved. 

We breached in 2025 and got a points deduction. 

So, we did 'cheat' didn't we? 

I'm not being facetious here - do we have any faith that our recruitment system has any real knowledge of League One level players or how to operate in this market? 

1 minute ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

I would’ve thought Winks’ book value is 0 after June 30th with this 4th year being an extension? 

Don't know. The 4th year could trigger a re-amortisation? £10m divided by 4 instead of 3? 

Struggle to see how we avoid huge losses on the above (other than Fatawu). 

Am I missing anybody?