Leicester City fans demanded the exit of the club’s owners and booed the players off the field after a 2-2 home draw against Hull City on Tuesday confirmed relegation to League One just 10 years after the Foxes were crowned as Premier League champions.
While lifting the top-flight trophy at the King Power Stadium in May 2016 ranks as the Foxes’ greatest day, the 2-2 draw with Hull will go down as one of their worst as it confirmed a second successive relegation.
The Foxes, relegated to the EFL Championship from the Premier League last season, become only the fifth team to suffer back-to-back relegations to the third tier.
Gary Rowett’s side briefly had dreams of a great escape as quick-fire goals from Jordan James and Luke Thomas overturned Liam Millar’s opener, but Oli McBurnie’s strike midway through the second half left Leicester City seven points from safety with just two games to go.
“The bigger picture is you don’t get relegated over three or four games, you get relegated over a season,” Rowett said after the game. “We have to learn. I think the club have to accept this is the horrible part of the journey of a football club.”
The draw condemns them to the third tier for the first time since 2009 and winning the Premier League under Claudio Ranieri, a run to the Champions League quarterfinals and an FA Cup victory will seem like distant memories.
“This club won the Premier League not too many moons ago,” Rowett added. “That was an incredible high at the time for the fans, for everyone associated with the club.
“I think everyone saw that as an amazing achievement. I think we can be equally as disappointed with how poor this moment is.”
The supporter anger saw the fans boo the players onto the pitch before the game and chant “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” as they left the field at the end of the match.
Leicester followed their 2015-16 title win with FA Cup victory in 2021. The following season, they also had a successful run in Europe, reaching the semifinals of the UEFA Conference League.
In 2022-23 the club was relegated to the Championship before bouncing straight back up to the Premier League after the 2023-24 season.
However, life back in the top flight in 2024-25 was far from smooth sailing and manager Steve Cooper was sacked after 12 games. Replacement Ruud van Nistelrooy couldn’t steer them to safety and the Foxes went down again.
Earlier this season, the club was docked six points for breaching spending rules.
There was a toxic atmosphere with players booed — midfielder Harry Winks was given particular attention — and abuse directed at chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, with no guarantee the club will be able to bounce straight back after three years of downward spiral.
Srivaddhanaprabha was subjected to chants of “Get Out of Our Club” throughout the game and after the final whistle, when supporters stayed behind to protest outside the ground.
Rowett said: “So the club has to rise again, but it has to learn its lessons because it’s certainly been a season of an awful lot of regret.”
Leicester have won just one game in their last 18 out, and when the full-time whistle blew players collapsed to the ground knowing their move down to the third tier was confirmed.
In 142 years of existence, Leicester has played just one season in the third tier of English soccer. It won the League One title in 2008-09 and was promoted back to the Championship.
Slipping down English soccer’s pyramid is costly mainly because of the decreasing broadcast revenue.
In the 2023-24 season, League One clubs’ average total revenue was $12.2 million, which was about 25% of Championship clubs’ average revenue, according to Deloitte. The average revenue for Premier League clubs that season was $422 million.
Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this report.
