The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Sport Saturday
How magic carpet ride spiralled into a nightmare
When Leicester City won the Premier League title in 2016, as 5,000-1 shots, the magic carpet ride of memories did not stop there.
With European excursions in the Champions League and their first FA Cup triumph, Leicester were the club who constantly upset the odds and punched above their weight.
For years, they were regarded as the beacon for similarly sized clubs such as Brighton, Brentford and Southampton.
The success was built on shrewd recruitment and mid to long-term planning, which enabled them to absorb the sales of key players.
And then, last season happened. Relegation was when the brakes slammed down hard on the roller coaster, ending a glorious nine-year period in the top division.
That 2022-23 campaign now leaves them facing a crisis as they attempt to secure promotion out of the Championship.
Leicester were yesterday placed under a transfer embargo following a Premier League charge on Thursday over an alleged breach of the profitability and sustainability rules. And now the gloves are off. Usually a quiet, private club, Leicester are furious and vowing to take the matter to court.
This is not a crisis of finance, with the club’s owner, King Power, remaining fully committed, but an issue of compliance with the rules. When their accounts are released next week, it is expected that Leicester will have overshot the permitted £105million losses by some distance.
Sanctions are expected, while the Premier League is also frustrated at what it alleges is a failure to submit financial information.
Leicester feel they are being punished for daring to show ambition. Relegation last season was not expected, or budgeted for. Why would it have been? In the three previous campaigns, they had finished fifth twice and then eighth, while also reaching a Europa Conference League semi-final.
Yet it was their decisions in the summer of 2021 which have ultimately resulted in the charge.
In that pre-season, Leicester did not sell a star player, for the first time since winning the title. Before then, N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell had departed for nearly £260million.
Ahead of the 2021-22 season, Leicester moved away from that model to give Brendan Rodgers the best possible chance of progress.
They spent more than £50million on Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare and Jannik Vestergaard. Their cost base rocketed, with the wage-to-turnover ratio rising to 85 per cent. It felt risky, and was dependent on the club thriving.
Leicester have struggled to shift other big earners. It has proved an annual problem.
Youri Tielemans, Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyunucu all departed as free agents. Too many other players stayed for too long, on huge wages. Admittedly, the after-effects of Covid on the transfer market were very damaging for the club.
In January this year, the warning lights first started flashing. On the 19th, manager Enzo Maresca was caught out when Chelsea exercised an option to recall Cesare Casadei. The midfielder received an email at 4.30pm that day telling him to return.
It still gave Leicester sufficient time to find a replacement on the basis of another outgoing.
On transfer-deadline day, Leicester moved to sign the Inter Milan midfielder Stefano Sensi. A day of drama and disappointment followed. Sensi flew into England in the morning and passed a medical in London. All the paperwork for his loan move, with an option to join permanently, was signed.
Then, around an hour before the deadline, it is alleged that Inter sent back the loan arrangement with a number of changes. Leicester could not meet the requirements of the new terms. The deal was dead.
Leicester had made themselves weaker, while throwing more scrutiny on their off-field operations.
It only underlined how tight Leicester’s finances were and are. Two months before the window opened, it emerged the English Football League’s reporting unit had recommended the club be placed under a business plan amid concerns over their accounts.
For now, the Premier League occupies Leicester’s thoughts. With nine games left, promotion is a priority. What happens in the next two to three years depends on it. Leicester will be under pressure to sell players before June 30, regardless of the charge.
The big question now is which division they will be in next season and the impact a potential points deduction would have.
We can debate the inconsistencies of PSR, and the delay over Manchester City’s 115 alleged breaches, but this is a very worrying time for Leicester. The news that they cannot now work in the transfer market has only added to the gloom.