Poor fortune has also affected them. Centre-back Ben Nelson was ruled out for the season after injuring his thigh in a warm-down exercise following the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday. Another defender, Caleb Okoli, sustained a hamstring injury in an innocuous training incident.
Huge salaries will be slashed
The inquest into this season should be extensive but fans are not expecting a root-and-branch review.
Recruitment must be identified as a major failing. Leicester have spent too much on wages in the past five years or so, and then struggled to shift the players.
They could point to their issues with spending, after a long battle with the Premier League and Football League over compliance. They will argue that sporting ambition has been unfairly restricted, but there have been too many average players signed on big money.
Even last year, in their doomed Premier League season, they gave midfielder Wilfred Ndidi wages of more than £100,000-a-week to prevent him leaving on a free transfer.
When Wrexham signed Conor Coady for £2m in August 2025, Leicester had no option but to agree a deal where they still contributed to his salary.
The recent January transfer window was underwhelming, and the reluctance to sign a centre-forward was a big mistake. It has left them with an unbalanced squad with all the cutting edge of a wooden spatula.
So what happens next? The drop into League One is a nightmare for the bean counters, with huge pressure to get promoted next season. Parachute payments will expire in the 2027-28 season, and staying in League One that year could place the club in serious trouble.