Leicester City relegated: The key failings that led to the Foxes exiting the Premier League

After a wretched campaign in which they had three different managers and lost 22 of their 38 league matches, Leicester City will be playing Championship football next season.

With their fate out of their hands on the final day, victory over West Ham did not matter as Everton edged a win against Bournemouth.

So where did it all go so wrong?

BBC Sport assesses the key failings that led to the club's Premier League demise.

• Watch: The Football News Show - Relegation rundown

Pre-season problems with 'different expectations'

There were warning signs in pre-season that a chaotic campaign was about to unfold.

Brendan Rodgers had done a stellar job as manager since joining from Celtic in February 2019, leading the club to domestic cup success two years later and also securing the Community Shield.

His team had fallen agonisingly short of a return to the Champions League with consecutive fifth-placed finishes, before coming eighth last term and reaching the semi-finals of the inaugural Europa Conference League.

That was the point at which the Northern Irishman wanted a refresh of the squad to push for the top six again, moving on players surplus to requirements and bringing in those who could provide more hunger and energy.

When he left to go on holiday last summer, Rodgers provided the decision-makers with a list of players he wanted to sell, which included midfielder Nampalys Mendy and forward Ayoze Perez.

He spent time speaking to players he wanted to sign - including Chelsea defender Levi Colwill, who ended up joining Brighton on loan.

But when Rodgers returned for the start of pre-season, he was stunned to see those he wanted out still at the club.

Covid had hit the club's owners hard, with their King Power Duty Free business brought to a standstill because of a halt to the airline industry. That meant the purse strings at their other ventures - including Leicester - had to be tightened.

"Of course I want to improve the squad. I want to develop the squad," Rodgers said last July. "I said that midway through last year, but if it's difficult financially. I really respect the club, so I don't go to war with them.

"It's unfortunate. We have to do some work and if we can do that, then hopefully we can affect the squad because if we are going to compete anywhere near where we have been, then we need to be able to do that.

"If not, then it's a different expectation."

It took until the final hours of the transfer window for the club to make their only significant summer signing - centre-back Wout Faes joining from Rennes for about £15m.

Managerial mix-up

Leicester won just one of their opening 10 games of the season but recovered to sit 12th - four points clear of the relegation zone - when the season stopped for the World Cup.

It was almost relentless suffering after the restart, though, as they secured only four more victories over the rest of the campaign.

There is a general feeling that delaying the decision to sack Rodgers was extremely costly.

He was initially backed - despite fans unfurling a 'Rodgers Out' banner after the 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea on 11 March, and a 1-1 draw at Brentford in the following game.

Rodgers stayed in the post during the international break, and the board finally acted after a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace dropped them into the bottom three.

But there didn't seem to be any real plan for a successor.

While the club scrambled around for a replacement, caretaker boss Adam Sadler oversaw home defeats by Aston Villa and Bournemouth.

BBC Sport understands Leicester spoke to a number of candidates and an approach was made to the representatives of Graham Potter, who had just been sacked by Chelsea, but the Englishman wanted to wait until the end of the season to decide on his next move.

A three-year deal was then offered to former Leeds boss Jesse Marsch after he impressed during his interview, but the American rejected it, feeling it was not the right opportunity.

With eight games left, Dean Smith was installed alongside former Foxes manager Craig Shakespeare and ex-England captain John Terry, but it was too little, too late.

James Maddison questioned the "hunger" of his team-mates after the demoralising 5-3 loss at Fulham - during which supporters had chanted 'You're not fit to wear the shirt'. They followed that up with 'We are going down' during the dismal 3-0 home defeat by Liverpool.

There was no way back.

Not replacing leader Schmeichel

The decision last summer to allow club legend and captain Kasper Schmeichel to join Nice after 11 years and 479 games of distinguished service - and not signing an adequate replacement - ranks highly on the list of costly mistakes.

Schmeichel was a vocal leader both on and off the pitch. He was also the one who had sprinted towards the helicopter transporting club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha when it crashed outside the King Power in October 2018.

The Dane, then aged 35, was offered only a one-year contract extension and instead took up the offer of a three-year deal on the French Riviera.

Alex Smithies joined on a free transfer from Cardiff as third-choice behind new number one Danny Ward and back-up Daniel Iversen.

Having spent four years as understudy to Schmeichel, Welshman Ward did have a spell of keeping six clean sheets in eight games, but was never convincing and conceded an average of 1.8 goals per game before being displaced by Iversen.

The goalless draw at Newcastle in their penultimate game was, incredibly, their first clean sheet since November - ending a run of 21 games without a shutout.

They have conceded 68 league goals this season. Only Leeds (78) and Southampton (73) - both of whom have also been relegated - and Bournemouth (71) conceded more.

'The most expensive squad to be relegated'

On the surface, Leicester may appear to be in a decent position to make an immediate return to the Premier League.

Playmaker Maddison - the club's crown jewel - and £60m-rated winger Harvey Barnes are expected to leave, but should fetch a fair price.

The 'parachute payments' that follow relegation will boost the coffers too, so they are set to bounce straight back up, right? Wrong.

If Leicester's search for Rodgers' replacement was farcical, the lack of a plan for their players makes for even worse reading.

Seven are out of contract in June, including internationals Youri Tielemans and Caglar Soyuncu, who would have commanded significant transfer fees if sold last summer.

Deals for a further eight players expire next year and, with cuts of up to 50% written into contracts should the club be relegated, there is likely be a huge overhaul of the staff.

Leicester's wage bill stands at £180m - the highest outside the top six - with Maddison, Jamie Vardy and Ricardo Pereira among a number of players to earn in excess of £100,000 a week.

The club showed income of £214m in their accounts up to May 2022, but this will reduce to about £70m in the Championship.

The main issue they face is a loan agreed with Australian bank Macquarie for advanced payments on player amortisation and broadcasting revenue.

That is set against TV money so it is quite feasible the club will not see any of the 'parachute payments' as they will be allocated towards paying the quarterly interest on the loan, which stood at £19m last year.

Leicester's total borrowings stand at £344m, but much of that is related to the owners, who wrote off £194m earlier this season,

"Leicester will be the most expensive squad, with the highest wage bill, to be relegated in Premier League history," sport finance expert Kieran Maguire told Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.

"There will be a lot of belt-tightening. Nobody wants the players to go but there will be a retrenchment.

"Some players will be on very lucrative contracts without relegation clauses which means they will become a significant burden.

"They will have to get the players of value out first. You will still get decent figures, but not as much as you hoped for when in the Premier League.

"They club will be in a much weaker position when suitors do come."

The last time Leicester dropped out of the Premier League was at the end of the 2003-04 campaign and it took 10 seasons to return to the top flight, including one campaign spent in League One.

Players, supporters and the club will be a hoping another long, painful road back to the top does not lie ahead.

• Our coverage of Leicester City is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment
• Everything Leicester - go straight to all the best content