Are Leicester victims of PSR rules?

Ten years ago, Leicester City had defied the odds to tee up the most astonishing period in the club’s history, winning a Premier League title, lifting the FA Cup, and competing in three European campaigns.

That Leicester side had unity, work ethic, dependable leadership, good planning, excellent recruitment and a never-say-die spirit that pulled them through.

This season’s Leicester have none of those, and have meekly surrendered to a relegation that was confirmed on Sunday. Their 1-0 defeat against Liverpool was a ninth consecutive home defeat without scoring — a top-flight record.

Acrimony against members of the hierarchy is growing, with some fans hiring a plane that flew over the stadium carrying a banner that read: “King Power Clueless. Sack the Board.” Another banner displaying similar sentiments was seen in the corner of the Kop at full time. Director of football Jon Rudkin is the figure many protesters see as the most culpable for Leicester’s decline.

Others can certainly share responsibility. Owner and chairman Aiyawatt ‘Khun Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha attended on Sunday and has some big decisions to make.

This will all be further complicated by profit and sustainability rules (PSR). When Leicester were relegated in 2023, the English Football League, which governs the second, third and fourth tiers, attempted to impose a business plan to restrict the club’s budget and player trading. Leicester won a legal battle against the EFL and the Premier League over an alleged breach of PSR. However, that issue remains in an arbitration process and the EFL is likely to be looking at imposing sanctions on Leicester.

This had an impact on pre-season recruitment. t wasn’t just potential managerial candidates who had concerns over a points deduction from potential PSR punishments. According to sources close to the discussions, players were reluctant to commit. Some players’ agents wanted any contracts to include clauses to protect their clients in the event of a points deduction.

The squad was arguably weaker than the one that was promoted, let alone being weaker than the squad that was packed with internationals but relegated two years before.

It was announced in September that Leicester had successfully appealed against the Premier League charge and that no points deduction would be immediately forthcoming, but this was delivered a week after the end of the summer window. The issue of jurisdiction (between the leagues) remains in arbitration.

If the anger and acrimony were bad two years before, this time they were magnified to the point of despair. Some supporters even lost the will to protest, feeling nothing will change. This time, returning to the Premier League will be much more difficult, but this may lead to a realisation of the scale of the problems and the need to sort things out.

Arguably Leicester have been the victims of the rather inconsistent attempts of the Premier League to enforce its financial fair play rules, although fans of other clubs have argued that Leicester tried an initially successful legal manoeuvre that has now bit them back. The Premier League continues to campaign against a football regulator, but its record of self-governance is not that impressive. The same goes for the EFL.

However, one Leicester fan commented: 'It was not PSR that was to blame, it has been Rudkin and various managers failing to make an impact under with their spending and having zero contingency plans. Regulations don't cause collapses like this, they simply make it impossible to hide hierarchical mediocrity.' So are complaints about the regulations an alibi to cover up an internal mess?

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The Political Economy of Football V2

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