Ex-Sunderland & Charlton Athletic figure slams Leicester City as ‘steal a living’ claim dropped | OneFootball

Charlie Methven, former Sunderland and Charlton executive, had his say on the dealings at Leicester City over the past few years

Leicester City are set to spend just their second-ever campaign below the second tier next term after they were relegated from the Championship this season.

It's been a disastrous year for the Foxes off the field, with their Profit and Sustainability breach from two years ago resulting in a six-point deduction midway through the season.

Ultimately, that bled onto the pitch, and an unmotivated Leicester side, made up of multiple players who were part of that title-winning side under Enzo Maresca in the 2023/24 campaign, succumbed to consecutive relegations to League One.

The six points they were docked would have saved them in the end, but the consensus surrounding the club was that they were among the worst-performing sides in the second tier, and real questions have been asked surrounding the effort of the squad at times this season.

It's no secret that this Leicester side is one of the most expensive squads and one with one of the highest wage bills ever to be relegated to League One, and cynics have even claimed that the players at the King Power are just there to collect a large paycheck with no real worries about what is happening on the field.

Charlie Methven questions Leicester City's overspending after Championship relegation

Ultimately, that is all down to the football club, who have paid their players these large figures, but arguably, they earned the right to, after a nine-year stint in the top flight, which saw them win the Premier League, win the FA Cup and compete regularly in UEFA competitions.

Leicester threatened to break the traditional 'big six' mould when, in fact, their past resembles that of a lower-end Premier League/top-end Championship side. When they, unfortunately, and quite shockingly, returned to that status quo in 2021, they still spent top-level money, and players saw the King Power as a place where they could make more than perhaps their level suggested.

That's the opinion of former Sunderland and Charlton Athletic exec, Charlie Methven, per the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast, who revealed that player agents would push their clients towards Leicester in a way to "steal a living".

"The thing you would hear from agents is that it was a great place to get a great wage," Methven said.

"I'd have a few drinks with agents, and I'd ask where they're thinking of taking their players, and they'd say Leicester. Why? Well, because you really get paid at Leicester.

"This was the reputation that Sunderland had before their disaster. A club whose natural place in the pecking order, not withstanding your recent triumphs, may be bottom five in the Premier League, top five in the Championship.

"Sometimes, the temptation is for clubs in that situation to say that the only way we're going to get these players to come to us is if we overpay them, and you can't win that game. You have to be like Brighton and Brentford and be smart in the transfer market.

"So, that's what I've heard about Leicester in the last five, six, seven years. It's been a great place to, if you were being kind, earn well. If you were being unkind, you'd say steal a living."

Charlie Methven's Leicester City admission is truly a slap in the face to Foxes fans

Methven knows what it's like to be inside a club relegated consecutively from the Premier League to League One, having been the Executive Director at Sunderland in the wake of their return to the third tier back in 2018.

Therefore, he'll know what it's like to be in a situation where numerous players are just at the club to collect their wages and play, with no real personal consequence on the result, or even sometimes just collect their wages and not play.

Every fanbase deserves a squad to be proud of. Leicester fans haven't had that recently, and the reality that certain players have been using the Foxes as a way to benefit themselves, rather than perform for the badge, is a real disappointment.

Luckily, that support will remain, and, if Sunderland's journey is anything to go by, the complete reset could do Leicester some good, as these high earners are eventually moved on in favour of players who really care about the future of the club.

But, they'll have to prepare for that climb back up to the Premier League to be a difficult one. It took Sunderland four years to get out of League One, and their situation was arguably a lot less difficult than the one Leicester are experiencing currently.