'This could be catastrophic for the club' - Leicester slammed after relegation to League One

Leicester have been relegated from the Sky Bet Championship after a 2-2 draw against Hull.

Gary Rowett's side needed to beat the Tigers in order to fight another day, and they fought back from a goal down to lead. But Oli McBurnie's strike sealed their fate.

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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Leicester City and Hull City

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Relegation to the third tier comes just shy of a decade after Leicester beat odds of 5,000/1 to win the Premier League title under Claudio Ranieri.

In 2026/27, the Foxes will play in the third tier of English football for only the second time in their 142-year history.

'This could be catastrophic for the club'

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Courtney Sweetman-Kirk and Lee Hendrie criticised Leicester City's players following their relegation from the Championship

Courtney Sweetman-Kirk on Soccer Special:

"I cannot believe what I've seen this season.

"I know the players care, to a degree, but what I've seen consistently through the season is they don't care enough. That's a simple fact.

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"The people I feel sorry for are the fans and the auxiliary staff and the people that are now probably going to lose their jobs.

"I honestly don't know where the club goes.

"I think about Seagrave, one of the best training facilities in Europe, how do they keep the lights on there? Do they still have their Category One academy status? It isn't just what happens today.

"I genuinely worry for the state of this club and where it goes because I think this could be catastrophic."

Leicester's league positions since winning the Premier League

Rowett: The club must learn its lessons because this season has been full of regret

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Leicester City manager Gary Rowett was despondent after the club were relegated from the Championship following their draw at home to Hull City

Leicester boss Gary Rowett on Sky Sports Football:

"It's incredibly frustrating. If I look at the game first, it’s quite symptomatic in some ways. In the first half, we make a really poor mistake that gives them a lift. We’ve done that too many times. We didn’t match the urgency or importance of the game, although we still created a couple of good moments where we should score.

"In the second half, we came out and were absolutely excellent. Maybe if we’d played with that urgency in the last five or six games, we’d have taken more points. We looked like a team willing to fight and created lots of chances but couldn’t take them. I’m hugely frustrated with the game.

"The bigger picture is that you don’t get relegated over three or four games, but over a season. We’ve missed a lot of chances, but that’s not the whole story. We’ve only kept five clean sheets all season, so it’s not just about the forwards. We’ve also given away poor goals, and you could see that again tonight.

Image: Leicester join Sheffield Wednesday as the relegated sides in the Championship

"It’s probably been the most frustrating period I’ve had in management because I believe our performances have been good enough to earn more points. We’ve created a lot of chances but have been really wasteful.

"Of course it’s frustrating regarding urgency and passion. I can only speak for the time I’ve been here. The players should feel it too. We’ve had energy and commitment, and we’ve been in most games, but sometimes when something goes against us, we haven’t shown the same mental strength to chase the game. There have been matches where we’ve let it go after conceding when it was still there to fight for.

"We’ve drawn a lot of games and, based on the chances and stats, we should have won several of them. But we haven’t, and we have to learn from that. The club has to accept this is a difficult part of its journey. Not long ago, this club won the Premier League, which was an incredible high. Now we have to face how poor this moment is. The club has to rise again, but it must learn its lessons because this season has been full of regret."

'Leicester nowhere near the expected levels - the rebuild will be massive'

Curtis Davies on Sky Sports Football:

"I can't believe we're sitting here and we've witnessed this.

"We've watched it all season and we've seen a Leicester side that has underperformed. Individually, collectively, they haven't been anywhere near the levels we expect from that group of players.

"Now it's actually come to fruition; they haven't got out of it like we thought they would. Even in-house, they'd probably have thought 'we'll be alright'.

"It hasn't happened and, ultimately, this is the result.

"You look at the quality of players that are trying to clap the few fans that are left... It's devastating for them, but it's more devastating for the fans because this is a team that got promoted two years ago with similar players and it's so harsh for them to watch that.

"We saw the financial issues they had in the Championship - what will happen in League One?

"They've got an £85m training ground that needs to keep the lights on. They've got players that are going to be on astronomical wages. I know there will be pay cuts, but they are still going to be on astronomical wages for League One.

"Quality-wise, you'd say they would walk League One, but if players don't want to be there in the Championship, who is going to want to be there in League One?

"Whoever the manager is, in my opinion, he'd be happier to see a load of them go. That's probably for the best for them, but also for the football club to start again because there are people who will want to play for them.

"The rebuild is going to be massive."

Hinchcliffe: Leicester relegation unacceptable

Andy Hinchcliffe on Sky Sports Football:

"When you look back at previous relegated clubs, I can't find another one with the quality and experience Leicester have.

"This is a team that was tipped to win the Championship title. Falling to League One is unprecedented. A season no one saw coming.

"Everyone on the playing side of things at Leicester needs to take a long, hard look at themselves because this is unacceptable."

Leicester finances will take 'significant hit' in League One

Sky Sports News' Rob Dorsett:

Leicester will see a significant hit in income next season in League One, with revenues predicted to fall by around 50 per cent compared with the Championship - and they would be earning less than a third of what they were in the Premier League this time last year.

For a club that won the Premier League 10 years ago, and the FA Cup just five years ago, the collapse in income will be particularly marked. While they enjoyed annual revenues of £187m in the top division, it is likely to be just over £100m come the end of this Championship season, and would fall to a predicted £60m per year in League One.

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Marc Albrighton says everyone at Leicester City is to blame for the downfall of the club, with the 2016 Premier League winners on the brink of relegation into League One

Despite the crash in income, it would still make Leicester far and away the biggest earners in the division next season, with the average revenues of a League One club one-sixth of Leicester's, at around £10m.

Leicester's speedy fall from grace will at least mean they have some cushion financially as a result of their Premier League parachute payments, designed to soften the blow of top-flight relegation in 2025. That entitlement would not change, even if the club suffers a second consecutive demotion.

However, those parachute payments reduce over time, and so that too will be much lower - around £10m lower in Leicester's case - for next season. Any club that drops out of the top division receives roughly 55 per cent of their Premier League entitlement in year one, 45 per cent in year two, and 20 per cent in year three.

That means even if Leicester were to bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt in the next 12 months, their parachute payments will drop still further for the start of the 2027/28 season.

Leicester's wage bill would have to fall by about 30-40 per cent - some of that will happen naturally, with relegation clauses in players' contracts. But there is also likely to be a huge churn in the squad, with large numbers of players becoming unaffordable for a League One club, or simply seen to be of too high a calibre to be content to play in England's third tier.

The most obvious of those is Abdul Fatawu, who Leicester could have cashed in for around £35m when they were relegated from the Premier League last summer.

A number of top-tier clubs were prepared to pay that for him at the time, Sky Sports News was told. Now, with Leicester in League One, his market value is likely to be much lower - maybe £10m-15m lower, for any potential buyer - although you'd expect Leicester to fight for the best price they could.

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