Leicester 'face £70m black hole' after disastrous football-on-credit-card gamble

Sporseverleri yakından ilgilendiren önemli bir haber var. Leicester 'face £70m black hole' after disastrous football-on-credit-card gamble Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Leicester City fans have been protesting against the club's owners throughout the season By Dale Johnson Football issues correspondent Published 10 minutes ago 2 Comments Leicester City enjoyed the good times, now they are going to have to endure the bad - and there are signs they may not have hit rock bottom. The drop to League One was confirmed after Tuesday's 2-2 draw at home to Hull City. Many fans stayed away from the King Power Stadium as Leicester become only the fifth club to suffer back-to-back relegations to the third tier.

Those who did turn up made their feelings known to the misfiring squad of highly paid players Supporters also protested against the owners, with 'King Power Out' banners dotted around the sparsely populated stands. With much of the club's future income effectively mortgaged off at high interest rates, the owners must finance a rebuild. But if the noises coming out of Thailand are anything to go by, the King Power Group may not have the resources to do it.

Maçın Detayları

Where do Leicester go from here? Could it get worse before it gets better? How an Australian investment bank has financed Leicester From the outside it might seem difficult to understand quite how the Foxes got here.

Leicester have been relegated despite having several of the highest-paid players in the Championship. Even the six-point deduction for failing financial rules in 2023-24 may not mathematically send them down, after just two wins from 19 league games in 2026. Just last month Leicester reported a deficit of £71.

1m for the 2024-25 season, when they were last in the Premier League. There is no indication of another potential points penalty for this period. Accumulated losses since 2019 have reached £375m, and in recent years future finances have been cashed in to keep the club running.

Yorumlar ve Beklentiler

Loans worth at least £100m have been taken out with Macquarie, an Australian investment bank, at rates of about 8% to 9%. This includes advanced payments for future transfer fees due on five occasions. The latest, taken out in September, effectively brought forward in instalments due for last summer's sales of Tom Cannon, Kasey McAteer and James Justin.

In January, Leicester rolled over their parachute payment loan, folding in the final tranche of £35m due for the 2026-27 season. Lots of English clubs use Macquarie in this way, so why could it be such an issue for Leicester? The club have been using tomorrow's money to pay for today.

And if that money tap starts to drip, for instance by being in League One? "This is going to be the big challenge," football finance expert Kieran Maguire told Sport. "They will be in receipt of second-year parachute payments, but it looks as if they have already cashed those in through Macquarie.

Spor dünyasında bu gelişme gündemin üst sıralarına yerleşti. Taraftarlar ve uzmanlar konuyu yakından takip ediyor.