Leicester’s decline and fall feels like a cruel parable as League One beckons | Paul MacInnes

The year they won the Cup, in 2021, Leicester narrowly missed out for a second consecutive season on qualification for the Champions League under Brendan Rodgers. That summer, the club shifted approach in the transfer market. Instead of looking to offset some of their spending by making sales, as they had each season since returning to the top division (from 2016-21 the sales read: N’Golo Kanté, Danny Drinkwater, Riyadh Mahrez, Harry Maguire and, finally, Chilwell), Leicester would look to build. In 2021-22, less than £4m was recouped from player sales, while the acquisition of Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumaré and Jannik Vestergaard cost an estimated £55m.

Leicester fans call for a change of ownership. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

This, in the language of the era, was a club “going for it”. Having punched a hole in the glass ceiling of the Premier League, Leicester were trying to climb through it. But the move turned out to be a failure in the short and long term. None of those summer signings were a success while Leicester’s pre-tax losses tripled from £31.2m to £92.5m, a club record.

Leicester reverted to their previous practices the following summer and sold Wesley Fofana for £70m, the key player in their defence. By the end of 2022-23, however, Leicester had not only been relegated but also posted another £90m loss. Despite an immediate return to the top flight, the losses accumulated over a three-season period were enough for the Premier League to charge Leicester with a breach of its profitability and sustainability rules. It set in train a process that led to the EFL docking the points that mean the team are seven adrift of Blackburn, 21st in the Championship, with two games remaining.

Doubtless there is enough blame to go around here – between the owners, executives and players – and any inquest into what has gone wrong is likely to be lengthy and heated. It should not be forgotten that there has been a tragedy in the mix: Top lost his father, and the club a revered leader, when Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash in 2018.

But as the club look to reforge the connection with their support that once made the King Power such a magical place, it is tempting to look at Leicester’s fate and see it as a parable. They challenged the football gods and, for a moment, were so successful they thought they could join them. Ten years later, those gods have had their revenge.