Do we really want promotion this season ??

[sdb]

We need a complete squad refresh so I'd rather do it with money than without. But maybe staying in the EFL will slightly increase the chances of some youth teamers getting a chance. 

 

I suppose the silver lining here is that we know we're not going up so there's no time wasted thinking about it.

[Nolucklcfc]

You take promotion at anytime financially but I’m more worried about going down. 

[LCFCJohn]

Of course you want to go up. But rather than signing the likes of Ayew, Skipp and BDR (even thought the latter 2 have been good in the past few weeks for us), you sign players on the up with the ability to grow and develop and also with resale value. Done with fees and wages that are manageable. That way, if you go down, you are well positioned to go again.

 

In reality, irrelevant as we have no realistic change of promotion.

[Tomo260]

This year is a write off, we'll be better off staying in championship another year. Use it to deal with the PSR, get rid of the toxic players and finally gain some stability. 

 

Leeds did ok and they're putting up a much better fight in the premier league than us .

 

No idea about Marti , I don't think our poor form is solely down to him 

[ThorpeAstleyFox]

1 hour ago, cityfanlee23 said:

We will be far better off financially if we went up, didn’t spend much and then came back down, than if we stayed down this season, so yes I’d snap your hand off for promotion. Completely understand the logic of rebuilding, but it’s far easier to rebuild if you’re a premier league club than as a championship club. 

I saw an interview with Alan Curbishley talking about how the first time that Charlton got promoted they did just this. They only signed players on Championship level contracts and accepted that they would be relegated. The 3-year plan was to gain promotion again the following season but to be financially secure enough that they could have a real chance at establishing themselves as a Premier League club. The plan worked. They won the Championship the following season and the spent seven seasons in the Premier League.

Edited 24 December 2025 by ThorpeAstleyFox
poor spelling!

[fox_favourite]

1 hour ago, Monk said:

From a footballing standpoint absolutely not we are not ready at all, and although I’d enjoy a playoff final at Wembley I can’t see a situation where we could finish 17th or above in the premier league. 
 

But the longer our tenure in the championship the more the finances of our club change, the harder it is to re-establish ourselves in the top flight. 
 

So we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. 
 

I think the best we can hope for is a continued reset of the squad over the next 12-24 months, ship out the deadwood, try to hold on to our more valuable players. 
 

We need to lose the poisonous identity and get the fans back on the side of the club before anything good can come of it. And they have to earn that it won’t come easy. 

A rational post that makes sense!!! Great post. 

 

Foxestalk is going down hill with this sort of behaviour  

Edited 24 December 2025 by fox_favourite

[fox_favourite]

In theory, staying in this league is a better option. Rebuild, regroup and try again. 

 

Reality is you need to go up for the money. The game is ruled by your financial position, staying in this league from this prospective will be not a great idea

 

Im torn on it. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

22 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

Of course you want to go up. But rather than signing the likes of Ayew, Skipp and BDR (even thought the latter 2 have been good in the past few weeks for us), you sign players on the up with the ability to grow and develop and also with resale value. Done with fees and wages that are manageable. That way, if you go down, you are well positioned to go again.

 

In reality, irrelevant as we have no realistic change of promotion.

Couldn’t agree more pal, criminal we didn’t look at players like Hayden Hackney & Zian Fleming / Liam Delap. Imagine if we had signed them instead of Skipp and Ayew. 

Edited 24 December 2025 by Claudio Fannieri

[Number 6]

I think promotion becomes harder with each passing season that we don't achieve it. Sooner is better financially, even if we were to go up and just take the money and finish 20th, it would help the finances immensely.

 

Problem in the Champ is building is difficult. Very susceptible to players getting poached and ultimately we'd need a season like this where the relegated clubs struggle.

[Heathrow fox]

The discussion has gone from delayed payments and no smoke without fire etc

To having the luxury of skipping promotion  for a season or three as a viable option.

[cityfanlee23]

39 minutes ago, ThorpeAstleyFox said:

I saw an interview with Alan Curbishley talking about how the first time that Charlton got promoted they did just this. They only signed players on Championship level contracts and accepted that they would be relegated. The 3-year plan was to gain promotion again the following season but to be financially secure enough that they could have a real chance at establishing themselves as a Premier League club. The plan worked. They won the Championship the following season and the spent seven seasons in the Premier League.

Yep, Ipswich followed a similar path, they did spend a lot of money in the prem which we obviously can't do, but many of the players they signed were £10-20m players on contracts they could continue to facilitate should they go down, or recoup/profit from sales if those players got better opportunities. They made good profits on Hutchinson and Delap, but they kept the likes of Philogene, Greaves, Clarke, O'shea, Szmodics who all have plenty of years left, and will cost the club £5m each per season over the life of their contract there, and their wages are roughly £25-35k each, which is completely sustainable. 

This upcoming summer we can FINALLY get the dead wood off of the books, Winks, Soumare, Pereira, Ayew, Daka all leaving. That only really leaves us with Faes and Vestergaard on the books, Faes will 100% try to force a move imo. That gives us a perfect opportunity to have the proper reset we've all been craving for about 5 years, where we get back to the Pearson/Puel blueprint of buying young talent with a point to prove on affordable wages. 

[Heathrow fox]

51 minutes ago, ThorpeAstleyFox said:

I saw an interview with Alan Curbishley talking about how the first time that Charlton got promoted they did just this. They only signed players on Championship level contracts and accepted that they would be relegated. The 3-year plan was to gain promotion again the following season but to be financially secure enough that they could have a real chance at establishing themselves as a Premier League club. The plan worked. They won the Championship the following season and the spent seven seasons in the Premier League.

You could argue that Leicester did just this in 94/95.

[Bourbon Fox]

If we go up post points deduction, we'll necessarily have clicked as a squad and strung a good few results together - half a dozen more wins than anyone else over a couple of dozen games.

 

What fan wouldn't want that, it's the best case scenario.

 

Would I want that Leicester City to be promoted? Sure

 

 

[Pita]

With the way the club being run don’t think we have a chance of going up next season or the next few years. Top does not have the money or know how to run the club. 

[Foxdiamond]

To consider the prospect of promotion this season is a bit like working out your exotic holiday plans when you know full well you can't afford it and a day at the seaside is about the limit. After the points deduction we need to ensure relegation is avoided

[Sky Blues]

I'd accept promotion because it would mean no relegation. But if you did go up it should be to take the money and not spend it yet again trying in vain to stay up. Sort out the finances of the club and then start again in the Championship. 

[cityfanlee23]

29 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

I think promotion becomes harder with each passing season that we don't achieve it. Sooner is better financially, even if we were to go up and just take the money and finish 20th, it would help the finances immensely.

 

Problem in the Champ is building is difficult. Very susceptible to players getting poached and ultimately we'd need a season like this where the relegated clubs struggle.

This. IMO we’re getting very close to “it’s now or never” territory.

If we don’t go up this season, the reality is we’re not just running it back with the same squad. We’re likely to lose a huge chunk of it in one summer, we can argue that is a good thing, but only if we replace it adequately. 
 

Out of contract:
Begovic, Ayew, Pereira, Winks, Soumare, Daka

Likely to get better offers:
Nelson, Jordan James, Fatawu, Monga

Likely to push for a move:
Faes, Okoli
 

That potentially leaves us going into the summer with something like Stolarczyk, Skipp, Thomas, Souttar, Mavididi, Kristiansen, Golding, Vestergaard, BDCR, Hamza, Vietes. 

And while a lot of fans would be happy to see several of the current squad moved on, rebuilding that many positions as a Championship club with prem ambitions is far harder than doing it as a Prem club. Finding players like Philogene for £20m is far easier than finding him at £5m before he's done anything, the likes of JJ and Fatawu wouldn't touch us with a barge pole with where we are now, the only reason they are here is because when they signed we were expected to have a good shot at promotion. 

 

Promotion sooner rather than later matters financially, but it also matters structurally. Miss out this season and we’re not just trying again — we’re likely starting another full rebuild in a league that punishes instability.

That’s why this season feels massive and currently we are blowing it. 

[SemperEadem]

Hell no.

[cityfanlee23]

Also just to note, completely agree with others that promotion is a slim chance with the deduction, especially if we can't get it down to say 6 points with appeal. If we got the deduction right now and we ended up 10 points from playoffs, it's still achieveable though, providing we bring in an interim who can galvanise the club. 

I genuinely think Warnock could get us top 6 if we were 10 points from playoffs tomorrow. Under Marti however I don't think we have a snowballs chance in hell. 

[Cincinnati Fox]

It’s never going to happen.

to be honest I think I want relegation as they might get rid of KP and until that happens the Club can’t reset,

[Stadt]

If we don’t go up, we don’t steadily rebuild à la Sunderland. We’ll lose our best players, replace them with shit and get much worse.

[gurru991]

I'm not expecting Leicester to be promoted but if we some how managed to fluke a promotion I would happily accept it.  

Maybe one day Top will realize that it takes quality people to run a football club & bring in professionals who can steer us back to the Premier.

[Gamble92]

Top's version of what is happening is PSR and mainly the wage budget has meant his hands are tied. That excuse runs out in the summer when we finally shift most this shit.

 

I don't feel like the scouting is a complete write off after the stuff we did under Enzo and this summer. 

 

The worst thing about our situation is we keep getting more chances and if there was the slightest bit of competency you could get this sorted out. We just know there isn't. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

I'd take staying down for a change of ownership, that's all.

 

If you want to stay down and risk doing a Charlton, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Huddersfield rather than what Bournemouth, Brighton, Palace, even Forest are doing now, then you're not wired correctly and competitive sport shouldn't be your passion. 

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

That’s all debatable, linger in the league points deductions potential administration. Not every person that buys a club comes in and is the saviour look at the likes of Reading, Wednesday, Cardiff etc 

We're literally going to end up just like those clubs under the current owner.