As Leicester City’s men’s team drop into League One, questions are being raised about the financial burden of sustaining a top-tier women’s side.

The men’s team’s relegation to League One comes a decade after their unforgettable Premier League triumph, marking a sharp decline for the club.

The interdependence between the men’s and women’s setups at English clubs is undeniable, and recent discussions have suggested that Leicester’s owners might be reconsidering the value of keeping their women’s team in the top division.

This kind of tension isn’t new in English football. The downfall of Reading Women is a stark reminder of how swiftly financial troubles in the men’s game can affect their women’s counterpart.

At Leicester City, rising economic strain has seen the men’s team falter and ultimately be demoted to the third tier, just ten years after lifting the Premier League trophy.

The repercussions for the women’s team — and potentially their impact on the club’s broader financial outlook — could prove significant in shaping Leicester’s future.

Charlie Methven, a former executive at Sunderland and Charlton Athletic, recently remarked that the situation might lead Leicester’s ownership to quietly hope for relegation from the Women’s Super League (WSL).

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.”

He elaborated: “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 pointed out that running top-level football operations across multiple departments — from the women’s squad to Category One academies and elite training infrastructure — can quickly become financially unviable. These are long-term commitments that require consistent backing.

In that broader context, the women’s team often becomes part of a larger cost-benefit analysis within the club’s financial planning.

The scenario mirrors what unfolded at Reading. Once a stable WSL outfit, Reading Women were forced to withdraw from the Championship (now WSL 2) in 2024 after the men’s side reduced financial support.

The club voluntarily dropped from Tier 2 to Tier 5 because they could no longer meet the mandatory standards — including maintaining a full-time training setup and investing adequately in staff and facilities.

Reading’s official statement read: “Despite best efforts, the complexities around separate ownership have meant operating Reading FC Women under a separate funding model has not been possible.”

The collapse of Reading Women demonstrated the vulnerability of women’s teams to financial instability in the men’s game. When budgets tighten, the women’s programme often faces cuts first.

Methven warned that Leicester’s troubles could deepen. “I am concerned, I am worried,” he said. “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.”

Currently, Leicester sit at the bottom of the WSL table, though that position doesn’t guarantee relegation this season. With the league set for expansion, the 12th-placed club will contest a play-off against the third-placed team from WSL 2 to determine who stays up.

Rick Passmoor’s side remain four points from safety with four matches left, leaving virtually no room for mistakes.

Leicester made waves earlier this year by signing Alisha Lehmann, the most-followed female footballer on social media, in January. However, despite her arrival, the team’s fortunes have yet to turn around, and they appear destined to finish at the foot of the table.