sözaltı news Sport
Sport
EN AZ
Is Leicester boss Martin turning the Foxes' fortunes?

Is Leicester boss Martin turning the Foxes' fortunes?

bbc.co.uk 22.10.2026 08:01 3 views
Leicester are 10th in League One, 10 years after winning the Premier League. After hitting their lowest ebb, are there now grounds for optimism?

Sitting 10th in League One, it has been a spectacular decline. A decade ago, they were reigning 5,000-1 Premier League champions and the toast of the world. Five years ago, the Foxes lifted the FA Cup for the first time and were challenging for Champions League qualification.

Since then they have fallen fast with financial problems, points deductions and the drop to the third tier, leaving the club up for sale. But back-to-back wins this week - for the first time since last November - have shown the shoots of recovery after a stuttering start. This summer was a hard reset and, after three relegations in four years, have the Foxes found a way to recover under head coach Russell Martin?

Tuesday's 4-0 thumping of Bromley followed the 2-1 win over Doncaster which dampened the external noise. Martin - a sometimes polarising personality with fans who have criticised his style and ability following a 17-game spell at Rangers last season - had been the target of anger following two wins in eight which left them 17th in League One and a point above the relegation zone. Home defeats by Burton, Oxford and Peterborough were a world away from the Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid in 2017.

That has little bearing internally at the club and BBC Sport can reveal the Foxes were working under a transfer embargo for five weeks in the summer. It related to the EFL's Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) with an independent Club Financial Review Panel agreeing future Premier League distributions within Leicester's SCMP calculation could not be used to increase their spending capacity. It meant the club could not sign players until they brought money in, although it only disrupted the order of summer business.

Jeremy Monga and Abdul Fatawu were not sold until the middle of July and only after Monga left for Manchester City on 11 July were the Foxes able to bring in Conor Chaplin and Alex McCarthy five days later. Four of the starting XI on Tuesday signed on deadline day and 66% of the players joined after the season started. Leicester missed out on targets who were not willing to wait but Chaplin, McCarthy and Wes Burns were just three who were prepared to hold on to join Martin.

It is the relationships the head coach has built and something which has started to turn the tide at Seagrave. Martin inherited a broken, expensive squad, which had lost the faith and connection with supporters and a dressing room which let egos get in the way and lacked work ethic. In a different financial reality, it needed to be stripped back and, including loans and academy exits, 34 players left the club in the summer and 16 arrived.

Extract — continue reading at the source.

Read full story