Just seven years after the greatest day in their history, Leicester suffered one of their worst of modern times.
The club were relegated from the Premier League on the last day of the season despite beating West Ham, with Everton’s victory consigning them to the drop.
Here Mail Sport looks at what happens next.
Who’s going to leave?
It would be quicker to list the ones who will stay. Leicester, somehow, allowed the contracts of eight first-team players to expire this summer, including key names like Youri Tielemans, Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu. Most are expected to go.
Evans admitted the players said goodbye to each other in the dressing room after West Ham as there will be ‘a lot of changes’.
Just seven years after their greatest day, Leicester were relegated from the Premier League
The club now have a number of issues to navigate, including the naming of their next manager
Another nine only have a year left. James Maddison is one of them. He’ll be gone. He’s too good and too many clubs want him. Teams like Newcastle and Manchester City. Newcastle like Harvey Barnes, too, as do Aston Villa. Leicester must sell some prized assets to drum up cash for the rebuild.
There is no benefit to either of them reporting for the start of pre-season.
It will muddy the waters for a new manager trying to win immediate promotion.
Transfer negotiations are rarely simple, but this is the time to establish the nature of the market, have pragmatic discussions and get a deal done.
Leicester will likely not receive the same fees they would have had Barnes and Maddison been sold last summer. But these are the gambles clubs must take and this time, Leicester lost out.
They are now a Championship side and will be treated as such. Second-tier clubs are very rarely involved in £50million transfers and the sooner the Foxes understand this, the better.
Jamie Vardy also heads into the final year of his deal.
Although his powers are waning, Vardy did enough in Dean Smith’s eight-game spell to show he is still a dangerous striker – and this will remain the case at a lower level. What a final chapter of his remarkable story it would be for him to fire Leicester back into the Premier League.
Jamie Vardy powers are waning but he could be an asset for the club in the Championship
Who’s going to be in charge?
It seems unlikely Dean Smith will be trusted with the job. His short-term deal is up and it’s understood some of the players – those likely to stay, anyway – feel a change to a manager with a clearer style of play is necessary.
Leicester want Graham Potter but he’s not going to want to drop down to the Championship, is he?
Foxes bosses admired Swansea manager Russell Martin but he looks to be heading to fellow relegated side Southampton.
Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and director of football Jon Rudkin will have plenty of voices in their ears at this time, from inside and outside the club, and all pushing their own agendas.
Whoever it is, Khun Top, Rudkin and recruitment chief Martyn Glover must be fully behind him and prepared to build a squad he can work with successfully. Otherwise, another long season awaits. What is clear is Leicester’s next appointment will be the most crucial in their modern history with a gigantic overhaul on the horizon.
They cannot afford to get it wrong.
Leicester want Graham Potter as their next boss but he is unlikely to want to take the job
Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (right) must fully back the manager and build a squad
What about the finances?
Leicester had the most expensive and highest-paid squad in history to be relegated from the Premier League. Their wage bill was more than £180m, the seventh-highest of any club in the division.
They won’t be able to spend that in the Championship, and certainly not when their revenue drops by more than £100m from their current £215m.
Players, fortunately, have relegation clauses to bring that down. Most of the high earners like Maddison and Tielemans will be gone anyway.
Leicester took a loan out with Australian bank Macquarie secured against future Premier League television rights money, a division in which they no longer reside. Another example of a club that did not see relegation coming until it was too late. Parachute payments will likely have to be ring-fenced for that.
So, the biggest overhaul in Leicester’s recent times is to be overseen by an unknown manager and with an unknown budget.
You can forgive fans if, once the pain of relegation resides, it’s replaced with worry for the uncertainty of what’s to come.
Youri Tielemans, one of the club’s biggest earners, will leave the club on a free this summer
