{"id":239535,"date":"2026-04-21T03:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/5000-to-1-fairytale-turns-sour-as-astonishing-decline-puts-darlings-on-brink-of-football-abyss\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T03:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:21:00","slug":"5000-to-1-fairytale-turns-sour-as-astonishing-decline-puts-darlings-on-brink-of-football-abyss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/5000-to-1-fairytale-turns-sour-as-astonishing-decline-puts-darlings-on-brink-of-football-abyss\/","title":{"rendered":"5000-to-1 fairytale turns sour as astonishing decline puts darlings on brink of football abyss"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ten years after authoring the ultimate sporting fairytale, former Premier League champions Leicester are on the brink of a humiliating relegation to the third tier.<\/p>\n

If Gary Rowett\u2019s side fail to beat Hull on Tuesday, they will be condemned to League One for only the second time in their history.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Languishing eight points from safety with only three games left, the Foxes appear destined to plunge into the third tier for the first time since 2008-09 following an astonishing decline over the last five years.<\/p>\n

It would be a third relegation in four seasons for Leicester, who dropped out of the Premier League in 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n

After Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N\u2019Golo Kante and company defied 5,000-1 odds by winning the Premier League in 2016, Leicester reached the Champions League quarter-finals the next season and won the FA Cup in 2021.<\/p>\n

But Leicester\u2019s golden era is a distant memory as they face the unpalatable prospect of playing the likes of Bromley, Mansfield and Wycombe next season.<\/p>\n

Crashing out of the Premier League in limp fashion three years ago should have been a wake-up call for Leicester\u2019s Thai owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and much-maligned sporting director Jon Rudkin.<\/p>\n

But Leicester\u2019s hierarchy were painfully slow to address numerous flaws on the pitch, while the club\u2019s ruinous finances have cost them with a six-point deduction this season for breaching spending rules.<\/p>\n

Vardy\u2019s departure at the end of last season severed the last tie with the title-winning squad.<\/p>\n

Marti Cifuentes, hired to lead a promotion push, struggled to rebuild an unbalanced and inexperienced squad before his sacking in January.<\/p>\n

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Ten years after authoring the ultimate sporting fairytale, former Premier League champions Leicester are on the brink of a humiliating relegation to the third tier.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– \u2018A lack of quality\u2019 –<\/b><\/p>\n

Interim boss Andy King was unable to turn the tide and relegation fears began to mount after Leicester blew a 3-0 half-time lead in a dismal 4-3 defeat against Southampton.<\/p>\n

By the time Rowett was hired in February, the Foxes were two points from safety and the former Leicester defender has mustered only one win from his 11 matches since.<\/p>\n

But it is his players that have taken the brunt of the blame, with fans chanting \u201cyou\u2019re not fit to wear the shirt\u201d and engaging in an altercation with midfielder Harry Winks after last weekend\u2019s loss at Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lack of fight is something that\u2019s been labelled at the team over the course of a season. I don\u2019t know whether that\u2019s fair but I think we\u2019ve showed a lack of quality,\u201d Rowett acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Boardroom blunders have been the defining influence on Leicester\u2019s plummet towards League One.<\/p>\n

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha has struggled to fill the shoes of his father, Vichai, who was killed in a helicopter crash at the King Power stadium in 2018.<\/p>\n

Claudio Ranieri, architect of their title-winning campaign, was sacked just months after lifting the trophy, with Craig Shakespeare and then Claude Puel proving inadequate replacements.<\/p>\n

Brendan Rodgers, who masterminded the club\u2019s FA Cup triumph and two fifth-placed finishes in the Premier League, was dismissed as relegation beckoned in 2023.<\/p>\n

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PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND – APRIL 18: Divine Mukasa of Leicester City appears dejected during the Sky Bet Championship match between Portsmouth and Leicester City at Fratton Park on April 18, 2026 in Portsmouth, England. (Photo by Jasper Wax\/Getty Images)<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even when Enzo Maresca led Leicester to promotion in 2024, he immediately departed for Chelsea, necessitating the unpopular and unsuccessful appointment of Steve Cooper, who previously managed rivals Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

Rudkin\u2019s recruitment has been no better, with expensive flops Patson Daka, Oliver Skipp, Jannik Vestergaard and Harry Souttar adding to a wage bill that topped \u00a3200 million ($270 million) in 2023 and reportedly contained no clauses to reduce salaries upon relegation.<\/p>\n

Foreshadowing Leicester\u2019s descent, Aiyawatt said in January: \u201cIn almost 16 years, we have won five trophies, we\u2019ve had two relegations, three times in Europe. It\u2019s like a movie. It\u2019s like a super drama on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew bigger and bigger and we forgot what we were before. We thought we are here and that is the most dangerous position to be in.\u201d On the precipice of relegation, Leicester will hope for another against-the-odds miracle, but the bleak reality of their situation is impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ten years after authoring the ultimate sporting fairytale, former Premier League champions Leicester are on the brink of a humiliating relegation to the third tier. If Gary Rowett\u2019s side fail to beat Hull on Tuesday, they will be condemned to League One for only the second time in their history. Get all the latest football […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":239536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[72104,2228,69017,54408,38098,72111,2797,1192,72110,56858,13502,40089,72108,19990,12769,72113,11230,15065,19083,3050,72109,72106,6384,854,12725,14407,72105,20931,72112,5295,72103,72114,72107,9787,24886],"class_list":{"0":"post-239535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-against-the-odds-miracle","9":"tag-agence-france-presse","10":"tag-andy-king","11":"tag-astonishing-decline","12":"tag-bleak-reality","13":"tag-boardroom-blunders","14":"tag-brendan-rodgers","15":"tag-champions-league","16":"tag-claude-puel","17":"tag-claudio-ranieri","18":"tag-craig-shakespeare","19":"tag-dangerous-position","20":"tag-defining-influence","22":"tag-gary-rowett","23":"tag-inadequate-replacements","24":"tag-interim-boss","25":"tag-jamie-vardy","26":"tag-jon-rudkin","27":"tag-league-one","28":"tag-leicester-fairytale","29":"tag-much-maligned-sporting-director","30":"tag-oliver-skipp","31":"tag-premier-league","32":"tag-promotion-push","33":"tag-relegation-fears","34":"tag-ruinous-finances","35":"tag-spending-rules","36":"tag-sporting-fairytale","37":"tag-steve-cooper","38":"tag-tier-looms","39":"tag-title-winning-squad","40":"tag-vichai","41":"tag-wage-bill","42":"tag-wake-up-call"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}