Leicester City’s men's side have just been relegated to League One, 10 years on from their incredible Premier League victory.
The link between the men’s and women’s side at most English clubs cannot be underestimated and a recent podcast suggested Leicester’s owners might be questioning whether they want the women’s team to stay in the top flight.
That tension is not new in English football, with the collapse of Reading Women showing how quickly a women’s team can be impacted by developments on the men’s side.
The financial squeeze of Leicester City's relegation
At Leicester City, mounting financial pressure has led to the men’s side struggling and ultimately being relegated to the third tier, only a decade after their famous Premier League victory.
The spillover effects on the women’s team - and vice-versa - will be important to the future of this club.
And as Charlie Methven, a former executive at Sunderland and Charlton Athletic, has suggested, that could mean the owners quietly hoping for relegation from the top flight (Women’s Super League) on the women’s side.
Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, Methven said: “They’re in the WSL, but they are bottom. Now, if I was Top [owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha], I’d be praying that they get relegated.
“Because maintaining a women's team in the WSL is very, very expensive compared to in the division below. You're probably talking about a loss of five million going down to a loss of one or two million.”
Methven highlighted how maintaining top-tier operations across a club can quickly become unsustainable. From the women’s team to Category One academies to elite training facilities, these are long-term financial commitments.
And in that context, the women’s team unfortunately becomes part of a wider cost-benefit calculation.
A warning from Reading
The situation is beginning to echo what happened at Reading. Once an established WSL club, they were forced to withdraw from the Championship (now WSL 2) in 2024 after financial support from the men’s side diminished.
They demoted themselves from Tier 2 to Tier 5, due to being unable to meet the mandatory criteria of having a full-time training model and investment in facilities and personnel.
The club statement said: "Despite best efforts, the complexities around separate ownership have meant operating Reading FC Women under a separate funding model has not been possible."
Reading’s collapse illustrated how dependent women’s teams remain on the financial health and priorities of their counterparts. When funding tightens, they are often among the first areas to be cut.
Methven suggested Leicester’s situation could get worse. “I am concerned, I am worried,” he added. “I hate to see football clubs in financial difficulties.
“I’m looking at Leicester thinking this could be worse than the previous two worst cases I saw, which were Derby County and Bolton, both of which came within a very short timeframe, of liquidation.”
Will Leicester Women get relegated?
Leicester currently sit bottom of the WSL, but this season that does not automatically mean relegation.
With the league expanding, the 12th-placed side will face the third-placed team from WSL 2 in a one-off play-off to decide their fate.
Rick Passmoor’s side are four points adrift of outright safety, with four games to play, leaving little margin for error.
Leicester made headlines when Alisha Lehmann, the most-followed female footballer on social media, joined in January, but her signing has not been enough to change the situation at a side who look destined to finish bottom.
