Rot started when

[David Hankey]

Without doubt the rot or demise of this Club began the day Vichai died.

[bovril]

When we only scored 9 vs Southampton. We should have broken the record not just settled for matching it. I knew then that the club lacked the drive and ambition to move forward but of course the flask drinkers lapped it up and bought the commemorative DVD. I was vindicated a few months later when the poor form began. 

[Spudulike]

20 minutes ago, bovril said:

When we only scored 9 vs Southampton. We should have broken the record not just settled for matching it. I knew then that the club lacked the drive and ambition to move forward but of course the flask drinkers lapped it up and bought the commemorative DVD. I was vindicated a few months later when the poor form began. 

But it is the record for the highest away win in top flight history.

[StriderHiryu]

4 hours ago, David Hankey said:

Without doubt the rot or demise of this Club began the day Vichai died.

I think this is the correct answer, but another big turning point for me was the move to Seagrave. If you recall we moved to Seagrave just before Covid. That season we were brilliant up until that time, when we played and lost to Man City and Liverpool in quick succession and then post Covid break, choked our chance of getting to the Champions League. For me since we moved there, the culture of the club has completely changed and the club went from "plucky underdogs" to "arrogant willy pullers that think they are way better than they actually are."

 

Now we did win the cup that year, so it's not like it happened overnight, but slowly but surely, that place changed the culture of the club and its killed us. But fundamentally the culture changed when Vichai passed, there are no two ways about it. 

[Langston]

16 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

I think this is the correct answer, but another big turning point for me was the move to Seagrave. If you recall we moved to Seagrave just before Covid. That season we were brilliant up until that time, when we played and lost to Man City and Liverpool in quick succession and then post Covid break, choked our chance of getting to the Champions League. 

 

We moved to Seagrave the season after the one you're referencing.. it opened in 20/21, not 2019/20..

[erlee]

Rot started when the son took over.... & gave all the power to Rudkin ....& the players

 

[Jon the Hat]

On 18/04/2026 at 16:40, jayfox26 said:

The culture at the club changed under Rodgers and we've never recovered from it. Maresca managed to overcome it as hes a top class manager but even he had his struggles at times with some of the players. Massively overpaying on wages hasn't helped attempt to improve the culture either.

We had a chance with Enzo feedback to make some changes.  We didn't, instead we end up promoting Rudkin.

[RonnieTodger]

People always point to the Forest game, but I was always very confident we’d lose that

 

We were poor that season, but three meaningless wins at the end of the season pushed us up to 8th.

 

Legia Warsaw were bottom of the Polish League when they beat us. 

Edited 20 April by RonnieTodger

[Kinowe Soorie]

On 18/04/2026 at 09:24, huddersfieldfox said:

Does anyone have a genuine opinion when the rot started. I'm not asking for years back because I genuinely thought we would go back up this season but its now looking like it's the opposite. 

What changed the players mindset, when did the rot start to creep in and why are our players so weak mentally and physically 

Still having the likes of Faes, Vestergaard and Soumare here. Add BCR and Ayew to the mix, massive problems. Large earners that aren’t bothered, that also respectively, can’t defend or score goals frequently.

Vardy being such a phenomenal goal scorer, papered over huge cracks!

When will LCFC ever have a 15/20 goal plus striker again?

[trooky]

On 18/04/2026 at 17:07, andy peake said:

23rd May 2021. Lost 4-2 to Spurs. Had just won the FA cup but again finished 5th in the Premier League and again just missed out on the Champions League. We’ve been going slowly downhill ever since.

100% agree, we had an un-sustainable wage bill without the champions league and we've struggled financially ever since with PSR. 

 

Although if we had qualified the idiots in charge would have spent even more on wages. 

Edited 20 April by trooky

[paulski]

 

Brendan threw his rattle out of the pram for reasons we’re unaware of, close to 2 top 4 finishes and FA cup win. The season we were relegated the whole club was rotten, player wages and stupid contracts. So for me the start of the rot was during the period after the helicopter crash when top was in charge.
 

Recent Manager Performance (Win % Order):

1. Brendan Rodgers: 52.30%
2. Nigel Pearson: 45.71% (second stint)
3. Claudio Ranieri: 44.44%
4. Craig Shakespeare: 42.31%
5. Claude Puel: 34.33%
6. Steve Cooper: 26.67%
7. Dean Smith: 25.00%
8. Ruud van Nistelrooy: 18.52% 

 

[Chrysalis]

It was years back, sorry it took until this season for you to notice.

[st albans fox]

On 18/04/2026 at 10:06, ronnup said:

Liverpool Boxing day felt like it for me...

2015? 
tough gig pleasing you 😄

[beepee1984]

The club has been run into the ground ever since Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died.

 

For a few years the legacy he put into place lasted and brought us a few good league places and the FA cup, but as time moved on and decisions made my Nepo Baby and Rudkin has impacted the club then the rot started.

Under Top - the recruitment dried up and instead of selling players, and reinvesting evolving the squad - he hired 2 very poor recruitment guys and changed the policy to overspend on keeping players on inflated wages - trying to keep hold of what we had instead of evolving. These players (and certain manager) then had no competition and no motivation and became complacent.

The business plan made no sense and we just spent and spent on wages with no sign of recuperating the money

 

 

[SystonFox]

personally the Bournemouth defeat in the gold kit felt like a real turning point.

 

Warsaw knocking us out as well was rough

[Mickyblueeyes]

Ryan Bennett when we were sat 3rd in the PL. even I tried to justify it at the time but no other club would do that, based on where we were sitting at the time. 

[StevieH]

16 minutes ago, beepee1984 said:

The club has been run into the ground ever since Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died.

 

For a few years the legacy he put into place lasted and brought us a few good league places and the FA cup, but as time moved on and decisions made my Nepo Baby and Rudkin has impacted the club then the rot started.

Under Top - the recruitment dried up and instead of selling players, and reinvesting evolving the squad - he hired 2 very poor recruitment guys and changed the policy to overspend on keeping players on inflated wages - trying to keep hold of what we had instead of evolving. These players (and certain manager) then had no competition and no motivation and became complacent.

The business plan made no sense and we just spent and spent on wages with no sign of recuperating the money

 

 

Yes agree with everything said here. Also Maresca suddenly leaving when we all thought he would lead us into the Prem. Panic set in and things have just got worse since

[AKCJ]

• Signing Ryan Bennett when we were in the UCL spots showed a clear lack of ambition and understanding. 
• Losing 3-0 against a Forest team that were in the league below showed we had a culture that didn't care.
• Bottling UCL qualification twice on the bounce showed we we signing players that couldn't handle pressure and lacked leadership.
• Refusing to hold people accountable for the 22/23 relegation showed a lack of standards.
• Offering Vestergaard a 3 year deal showed we were happy to take the easy option of sticking with what we had as opposed to refreshing the squad.
• Going from Rodgers to Smith to Maresca to Cooper to RVN to Cifuentes to Rowett and expecting the squad to play like Man City shows we have an owner that does not understand football.
• Persistent "play like that and we'll be fine" type messages from the club as well as "I don't know what went wrong" interviews from ex-players show that nobody in the club has accountability for their poor behaviour.

These are the underlying reasons as to why we are here.

[beepee1984]

8 minutes ago, StevieH said:

Yes agree with everything said here. Also Maresca suddenly leaving when we all thought he would lead us into the Prem. Panic set in and things have just got worse since

Agreed - we have no had a succession plan for years - the managers we bring in are all completely different making it impossible to build a culture at the club too and shows they don't have a club

 

Signing Rowett - a manager who always goes with experience when the club was so disillusioned with our experienced places just showed the complete inability to read the situation too

[Kitchandro]

18 hours ago, The_77 said:

I have a lot of issues with how Rodgers conducted himself but he was right about that. We clearly needed new blood in the squad and we’re still dealing with the same types of squad issues we had back then. 
 

But instead Rodgers became the first in a series of managers who were misled by the owner and DoF about transfers, and our players are still stale, soft, and lazy. 

The issues you’re referring with the squad were the ones Rodgers himself caused. He was backed to the tune of £300m and he spaffed it up the wall. Why do you think we’ve been deducted points? Some of his dreadful signings are still here and haven’t been able to shift them. He underperformed for what we spent and what he had at his disposal. He was the one who signed mentally and physically weak players for well over their market value. The core of the squad assembled largely before he came was still there and very talented.

 

I will never stop correcting this narrative because it’s the one Rodgers himself cultivated with the help of all the journalists and pundits that were in his back pocket. What we needed to do was get rid of him and hire someone decent who was a motivator rather than someone like Brendan who spent every interview telling them they weren’t good enough. Everything goes stale after a while and that includes the manager. That’s what we needed to refresh.

[brookfox]

The minute Top took over.

 

What we’re seeing isn’t a result of Rowett, Cifuentes, Ayew, Rogers or anyone else (admittedly they’ve not helped!) it’s a deep rooted cultural problem that takes years to fester. Bad board appointments, lack of care and standards, tolerance of incompetence, poor visibility and lots of other problems start at the top.
 

It’s why until Top either leaves or puts the club in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, we’re screwed.

[bovril]

There are shit loads of reasons, good post from AKCJ above, but also we could've just got a competent goalkeeper and all this would be a strange Dallas like dream. 

[CornwallFox]

11 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

We had a chance with Enzo feedback to make some changes.  We didn't, instead we end up promoting Rudkin.

What was Enzo's feedback?

[CornwallFox]

6 minutes ago, bovril said:

There are shit loads of reasons, good post from AKCJ above, but also we could've just got a competent goalkeeper and all this would be a strange Dallas like dream. 

Or simply not got rid of schmeical

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

The issues you’re referring with the squad were the ones Rodgers himself caused. He was backed to the tune of £300m and he spaffed it up the wall. Why do you think we’ve been deducted points? Some of his dreadful signings are still here and haven’t been able to shift them. He underperformed for what we spent and what he had at his disposal. He was the one who signed mentally and physically weak players for well over their market value. The core of the squad assembled largely before he came was still there and very talented.

 

I will never stop correcting this narrative because it’s the one Rodgers himself cultivated with the help of all the journalists and pundits that were in his back pocket. What we needed to do was get rid of him and hire someone decent who was a motivator rather than someone like Brendan who spent every interview telling them they weren’t good enough. Everything goes stale after a while and that includes the manager. That’s what we needed to refresh.

It's a funny one with Rodgers. He brought congerton and a number of awful signings in. In his last season he clearly wanted out, let schmeical go, refused to play our best defenders, and was responsible for the relegation. 

At the same time, in his first couple of years he took us from a boring midtable team with potential to fighting for top 4 and an fa cup. And both of those seasons for 2/3rds of the season we were fantastic - the best football team Leicester have ever had apart from that one untouchable season. 

A tale of what might have been, almost was, and it's wrecking.