An Owner Interview Amid A Points Deduction: Leicester City Are A Club In Turmoil | OneFootball

It’s been ten years since Leicester City won the Premier League, in a story that won’t be replicated for years to come.

With every high comes a fall, but nobody expected a club that defied the odds to be where it lingers now. Not just in the Championship, but in a period of turmoil and financial uncertainty.

After the sacking of Martí Cifuentes, owner Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha gave Sky his first interview since the Foxes won the Premier League title ten years ago.

And just a week later, the club has been hit with a 6-point deduction after breaching Premier League financial rules.

What can be unpicked from this period of uncertainty, and what can it help us decode over where the Foxes go next?

Top to Bottom

“The [person] most people should blame is me because I own the club, I’m the chairman,” Top said in his recent interview.

Dreadful decision-making, underwhelming transfers, and overpaid players led Leicester, a club once renowned as the one to defy all the odds, to becoming the most expensive and highest-paid squad to suffer Premier League relegation in 2023.

Immediate retribution under Enzo Maresca was short-lived, and the club went back down again in 2025.

While moves like selling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Wesley Fofana and Bilal El Khannouss have been detrimental to the squad over time, these have been enforced, so the club can continue to meet profit & sustainability rules.

But despite their best efforts, the Foxes broke Premier League financial rules.

“I am worried. Every year we try to comply with PSR,” Top said. “The only one we don’t know what it is, is the year we get relegated. And when we didn’t plan for that, it hit us hard. But the rest of the season we are compliant, and I am sure a club like Leicester, everybody knows our story, I know we are trying hard to comply. I cannot say much, but let’s wait for a decision, and the quicker is the better for all.”

Quite frankly, the club feel hard done by, but cannot complain. On Thursday, Leicester were hit with a 6-point deduction, sending them down to 20th in the Championship table.

So what comes after a fall? A rise. That’s what everybody at Leicester is hoping for…

What Next?

“The structure will change,” Leicester owner Khun Top said in his most recent interview.

“He [Director of Football Simon Rudkin] will go up above the sporting director, and the sporting director will take care of more of the day-to-day, work more on strategy and what we should play [like], what identity, what players should be brought in, and work with the young ones in the academy.”

While behind the scenes, there has to be huge changes, it is crucial for Leicester that, in the short-term and long-term, they get their next managerial appointment right. This season, after their points deduction, the club could see themselves dragged into a relegation fight. Bringing somebody in who has experience at Championship level to deal with this, is essential.

For stylistic purposes as well as having a proven record, the Foxes could look at Russell Martin, who they have had interest in in the past. Most recently Rangers Head Coach for the first part of the 2025/26 season, Russell Martin has seen his reputation as a coach somewhat dented after that spell with the Scottish giants, as well as a horrid time in the Premier League with Southampton.

But what makes Martin stand out as a candidate is that he has a set style of play – something Top is after: “Football has changed a lot. The club has gone from counter attack, to possession, to counter attack and back to possession. Now, we are in the process of finding the right way of playing,” Top said.

Martin’s style could suit Leicester – his style of play would suit the players and the general identity of the club, and with his experience at Championship level, is more capable of bringing stability in the short-term and potentially a promotion push back to the Premier League in the long-term.

“I’m not blaming anyone. I can take responsibility. But we are in the process of finding what Leicester should be in football. The size of the squad needs to change because the football has changed. We need to adapt. I’m sure we will make the identity of Leicester clear. The way of football needs to be better, that’s clear. I need to help them,” Top reinforced.

Leicester are lacking in confidence and belief, and somebody with the man-management attributes of a manager like Martin would give these current Leicester players the freedom and the belief they need to play progressive and proactive football. With belief comes confidence, with confidence comes freedom and with freedom comes energy. That from a coach is a special feeling. Something Martí Cifuentes lacked during his time in charge of the Foxes.

Appointing someone more short-term focused like Gary Rowett, who has been linked to Leicester, the club would get the clear basic principles of play, such as being organised defensively, being tough to beat and grinding out results. Some may argue that is what Leicester need in the here and now.

But what Leicester must truly find out as soon as possible, is what their identity is. Because without an understanding of what that is, it is hard to truly build anything in the short or long-term.

A rebuild doesn’t happen overnight. The owner is in the process of appointing a new CEO, commercial director, and sporting director to assist Simon Rudkin.

What these figureheads of the club must have in common is the same goals. A simple concept, but everything has to be in the right place.

FAN VIEW

We asked the guys over at Leicester fan account Blue Tinted Glasses their thoughts, and where the issues at the King Power Lie.

“Leicester fans have been asking for accountability and communication from the club’s senior leaders for a long time. So when the chairman took a small step towards this back in November, it was seen as a positive. This latest round of interviews offered more of the same, with a mix of challenging and less challenging questions put to him.

“There was one positive. He did seem to take some responsibility and hinted that the club’s decline has happened on his watch. But there were also plenty of frustrations. There was no clear plan or strategy set out for how Leicester intend to climb out of the situation we’re in. There was little acknowledgement of just how bad things have become.

“He also appeared to protect Director of Football Jon Rudkin by describing him as the “bad cop,” which felt like a disappointing brush-off given the seriousness of the issues facing the club. Rudkin has overseen the handing out of huge contracts to players who have shown neither commitment nor desire, and decisions like these have played a major role in leaving us stuck in mid-table in the Championship, with potential PSR breaches, all on the tenth anniversary of the title win.

“Leicester fans are frustrated, disappointed and angry at the state of the club, and this interview didn’t do much to calm any of those concerns. Top has a lot of work to do to build trust in the fan base.”

From “eleven it’s heaven”, to eleven years ago looking like heaven – Top has a hefty rebuild on his hands.

But as the club has shown itself before, anything is possible.