Glenn Murray
Former Brighton striker on BBC Football Daily

I feel as though the appointment [of Ruud van Nistelrooy] was very momentum-based. He had done really well at Manchester United, played a couple times against Leicester and they decided to act.

But when you look back in hindsight, and I felt this at the time as well, whenever you’re promoted to the Premier League if you can earn a point per game that generally will keep you in the Premier League and when Steve Cooper was sacked they were at that stage, if they kept that average they would still be a Premier League team.

Since Ruud’s appointment it has just not gone well.

Leicester City

Leicester have just three senior players out of contract at the end of this season.

Two are backup keepers Daniel Iversen and Danny Ward. The other is a bigger issue - top scorer and club legend Jamie Vardy.

Vardy is Leicester's top league scorer this season and has 198 goals for the club. But at 38, the question remains as to whether to offer him a new deal for another crack at promotion.

Few players have stood out this season, with goalkeeper Mads Hermansen and midfielder Bilal El Khannouss arguably the only ones to have had their reputations enhanced.

Leicester have several big names - like midfielders Wilfred Ndidi, and Harry Winks - who carry big wages. Whether they can be moved on, or afforded on a Championship payroll, remains to be seen.

Leicester spent £75 million last summer on eight first team players in a bid to bolster their squad after promotion. In January, with a relegation fight looming, only one more player arrived - full back Woyo Coulibaly (pictured) for £2.5m.

The Foxes had the fourth lowest total outlay of any Premier League side this season, and the lowest of all three promoted sides. Only Newcastle, Everton and Liverpool spent less.

Their most expensive signing, midfielder Oliver Skipp, has played just 23 league games this season, while their third most costly acquisition - winger Issa Fatawu - suffered a season ending knee injury in the first half of the campaign.

Other summer signings have either been found lacking at this level - like defender Caleb Okoli - or have barely featured, like forward Odsonne Edouard.

Image source, Getty Images

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter at King Power Stadium

As the plane's banner suggested, director of football Jon Rudkin and the board have been the target for fans this season.

They see Rudkin as a root cause of their decline in recent seasons. He was, of course, in the same position when the Foxes stunned the world to win the Premier League in 2016, but supporters have made up their minds.

Does chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha decide to make a change at the top; does head of recruitment Martyn Glover's position come under more scrutiny following a number of poor transfer windows, regardless of financial constraints?

Like every club, Profit and Sustainability Rules will be a concern so sales are inevitable and the threat of possibly further action from the EFL remains.

Leicester escaped a points deduction for a PSR breach in the three years to 30 June 2023, successfully arguing the Premier League had no power to punish them as they were already in the EFL at the time of the charge, and the club remains in talks with the Premier League and EFL.

Yet, they have to fall under some jurisdiction and cannot be left to float.

Leicester City

Before yesterday's fatal defeat to Liverpool, some Leicester fans made their feelings clear with protests against the club's Thai ownership.

'King Power Clueless Sack The Board' read a banner, flown by a plane above the eponymous stadium ahead of kick-off.

Image source, Getty Images

Just joining? Here's what we've been discussing:

• Leicester are relegated to the Championship after Sunday's defeat to Liverpool - setting an unwanted top-flight record in the process
• We've brought you analysis and reaction including from Stephen Warnock who says appointing Ruud van Nistelrooy was a 'very strange appointment'
• And you've been giving us your views. How about this from Dave who says Leicester have got 'exactly what they deserve' for their track record in sacking managers

Stick with us. Much more Leicester reaction to bring you and - a little later - we'll be looking at a crunch day in the Championship promotion race.

Stephen Warnock
Former Aston Villa and Liverpool defender on BBC Football Daily

On Ruud van Nistelrooy’s future: “If you’re the Leicester City board, make a decision asap. You either announce that he is staying for next year or you announce that he leaves because one way or another, you have to make sure that the squad know where they are at and who’s in charge.

"It wouldn’t surprise me if Ruud van Nistelrooy left the club because it has simply not been good enough, but the next appointment has to be right, and whoever comes into the football club needs the backing on the board to try and get themselves back into the Premier League as quickly as they can.

"They have more than enough to get back into the Premier League if they keep the majority of their squad to mount a serious challenge in the Championship, and there will also be players who will want to join Leicester to get them back in the Premier League.”

Leicester City

Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy on standards and culture at the club following relegation: "When you don't combine them with results it's always hard. There's no negotiation on these standards and I hold everyone accountable on those.

"I know how I worked from a village of 5,000 people in the middle of nowhere to Manchester United and Real Madrid. I know what is necessary to stay at the highest level and I know there are so many people working at this football club who have the quality to do so. But not enough yet.

"In difficult moments you get to know people and characters very well. I speak about standards and what is needed to perform at the highest level and that's a culture which needs to be created in this club."

On his future: "I'm waiting on the clarity of the club and how they want to continue.

"It is the goal to lead the club. I have to wait on how the club sees things and take it from there.

"The club has to use this time, otherwise you will waste it. In a situation like this you have to sit very carefully with the club to discuss the matters."

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter at King Power Stadium

There are unhappy and disconnected fans at Leicester, players accused of giving up, and a manager in Ruud van Nistelrooy who, despite his pedigree as a player, has seen the Foxes get worse on his watch.

When the Foxes sacked Steve Cooper in October they were 16th, although the cracks were there.

Cooper struggled to implement his style or connect with players. So, when Van Nistelrooy arrived, his honesty was welcomed, his methods and messages refreshing.

Yet, since the opening two games - a 3-1 win over West Ham and 2-2 comeback draw with Brighton in December - Leicester have won just four points.

The Foxes were more competitive under Cooper - who sacrificed his beliefs to try to find a way to survive - and they drew a blank just once in his 12 Premier League games.

That is in stark contrast to the lack of goals under Van Nistelrooy - a revered striker for Manchester United, Real Madrid and the Netherlands - and they have scored just six times in the league since the draw with Brighton on 8 December.

Leicester were in an unusual position of losing the manager who secured their promotion, as boss Enzo Maresca was lured away to Chelsea last summer.

In came Steve Cooper, who struggled to win over the fans and players due to his connection to rivals Nottingham Forest and a perception of a negative playing style compared to Maresca.

Cooper was sacked in November with Leicester 16th, with 10 points from 12 league games.

Ruud van Nistelrooy was hired as his replacement, and earned four points from his opening two league matches in charge.

But Leicester have claimed just four points in total since mid-December, and have been relegated with van Nistelrooy losing 18 of his last 21 matches in all competitions and with questions about the team's lack of direction and effort.

Leicester are the second lowest scorers in the league this season, with 27 goals from 33 matches. Only fellow relegated side Southampton have netted fewer.

No player has reached double figures - while their top scorer, Jamie Vardy, is 38.

While he is a Foxes legend, Vardy is also the fourth oldest Premier League player this season after Lukasz Fabianski, Ashley Young and James Milner.

If you are relying on a man who turns 40 in 21 months to score the bulk of your goals in the Premier League, something has gone wrong.

Image source, BBC Sport

Stephen Warnock
Former Aston Villa and Liverpool defender on BBC Football Daily

On Leicester’s miserable season: “It felt that way very early on with Steve Cooper coming in. I don’t think Leicester fans were happy with his appointment, but I don’t think they’d be in the same situation they find themselves in now if he had carried on instead of Ruud van Nistelrooy."

On van Nistelrooy’s appointment: “I think he was a very strange appointment. I just thought that if you’re going to bring someone in, you bring someone in with a bit more experience. More tactical ability to get something out of the players but I just thought it really hasn’t worked and like Ivan Juric like week, I’ll say exactly the same.”

Leicester have now been relegated from the Premier League for the fifth time - they also went down in 1994-95, 2001-02, 2003-04 and 2022-23.

Only Norwich, who have been demoted from the Premier League six times, have ever suffering more relegations since the inaugural competition in 1992-93.

Leicester have become the first team in top-flight history to go nine consecutive home league games without scoring. They did not even have a shot on target yesterday.

Since they last scored at home in the league, in a 2-2 draw against Brighton on 8 December, here is their tale of woe at the King Power:

Image source, BBC Sport

John Murray
BBC Radio 5 Live chief football correspondent

On Ruud van Nistelrooy’s future: “It’s difficult to say, mainly because they flatlined since he took over in November. They have set all manner of unwanted records during the course of this terrible slump. One of them is their ninth consecutive match they have lost at home without scoring a goal, which means 134 days since they last scored a league goal in their own stadium.

“He has a contract to 2027, that’s significant as well because money will be an issue for Leicester City with all of the restrictions there are now and whether they feel he is the right man to stay in the Championship and lead them. So big decisions to be made."

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester fans, we would love to hear from you with your opinions on why exactly things went so badly wrong this season.

Did you spend enough? Did you make the wrong signings? Is the board to blame? How about the manager, or the players?

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