Leicester’s points deduction is actually good news for them – the rebuild starts now

Feb 5, 2026 - 20:45

Leicester City’s six-point deduction is actually good news for the club – they can finally start to rebuild again.

That’s the view of football finance expert Stefan Borson, who believes the Foxes’ punishment could have been a lot harsher.

Leicester players clap fans after losing to Sheffield United — Leicester were deducted six points on Thursday for breaching PSR rules

Leicester have dropped down to 20th in the Championship after being docked six points on Thursday, as they were found to have been in breach of the Premier League‘s financial rules in the 2023/24 season.

It has meant they are now under major threat of relegation to League One, ten years on from their historic top-flight title win.

Things couldn’t be much worse for the struggling Foxes on paper at the moment, but Borson has indicated some positivity.

The finance expert joined talkSPORT Drive after the news of the deduction to shed some light on the situation for the club.

Borson told talkSPORT: “I think it’s good news for Leicester, contrary to how they might be feeling.

“If you remember, they breached 22/23, but they successfully challenged the jurisdiction of the Premier League in terms of prosecuting them for that breach.

“They also, as we now know, have breached 23/24 and they breached it by £21million in the end. They had a cap of £83million as one of the seasons they had in that three-year period was in the Championship.

“That was perceived to be around 25 per cent over the limit and what we then had was the commission looking at what the starting point of the points deduction could be.

“They essentially took the EFL guidelines, which show potential penalties up to 12 points, scaled it back, because in this case, the upper limit was not the normal limit, and they looked at the overshoot and compared it to the Everton case and felt that seven points was the correct deduction.

“Before they ended up taking a further point off because they were going in the right direction.”

View of the King Power Stadium — Borson believes the deduction could be a good thing for Leicester

Leicester statement on points deduction

The club wrote: “It is with disappointment that Leicester City acknowledges the independent commission’s decision and the club will use the time available to consider its next steps.

“While the commission’s findings significantly reduced the unprecedented scale of the sanction originally sought by the Premier League, the recommendation remains disproportionate and does not adequately reflect the mitigating factors presented, the importance of which cannot be overstated given the potential impact on our sporting ambitions this season.

“We appreciate the commission’s agreement with the club’s position that compliance for FY24 should be assessed over a 36-month period – an important point both for the period in question, but also in providing the club with certainty on its PSR/P&S compliance for FY25.

“The panel also agreed there were no aggravating factors which should be applied to the sanction, which is something the club had maintained throughout, and acknowledged the club demonstrated a positive trend in its finances in FY24.

“We are now reviewing the decision in full and considering the options available to us.

“We remain committed to engaging constructively and ensuring that any action is fair, proportionate and determined through the appropriate processes.”

Is that it for Leicester’s punishment?

Borson was then asked whether Leicester could potentially face any more deductions after being docked the six points.

“The question is: are they going to appeal?” he said. “Do they think that six points is the right number?

“Or are they going to put it to an appeal, in which case, that can go wrong and they could end up with a higher sanction.

“Certainly, the Premier League were asking for much higher than six points in this case, even though this is now more about a club breaching EFL rules in the EFL… so we had this situation where the Premier League were going for a big points deduction, but for a club that’s not even in their league.

“They might appeal, but I would suspect not.”

He continued: “Then, it’s a question of what happened in 24/25, the season they were relegated from the Premier League.

Leicester City owner, Aiyawatt Srivhaddhanaprabha — Leicester will avoid further punishment and Borson believes they won’t appeal

“There was some consideration that the Premier League were holding their position of everybody being compliant with 24/25 PSR until the completion of this case.

“And there’s a line in the announcement tonight that says the decision, because of some of the detail, means they have complied with 24/25.

“That would mean they are in a pretty good position going forward, having dealt with some of the big losses that they had in the post-title winning and European period and relegation period.

“And maybe now, they can start to rebuild from a more firm financial basis. That’s why I say that perhaps six points is actually good news.”

Why just a six-point deduction?

Some reports suggest that Leicester could have been handed a much more significant punishment of a 12 or even a 20-point deduction.

But Borson has now explained why the EFL and Premier League came to the conclusion that the Foxes would lose just six.

Leicester players appeal to referee — The Foxes have been told they can rebuild now that the punishment is out the way

“The fine detail in terms of how the Premier League got to what they’re asking for is because the Premier League were representing the EFL and it’s long been felt that the EFL tariff and the guidance in the rules has a starting point of 12 points for a breach,” he said.

“Whereas the Premier League, from the cases with Everton and Nottingham Forest, has a starting point of three and you work your way up. But the feeling is that the EFL guidance starts at 12 and you work your way down.

“There is some discussion within the decision on how they came up with the six-point deduction. They started with saying you’re 25 per cent over the limit, we think that should be six or seven points, they went for seven and then reversed out one of the points because Leicester are going in the right direction.

“But I think the Premier League were effectively saying, look, it’s a massive overspend… and then there’s another detail which could have affected the size of the breach, the Premier League were arguing that the assessed period should be 37 months because Leicester moved their accounting reference date.

“So the Premier League said it’s 37 months and if it is, their breach was actually a lot bigger, they had a £40million miss, not a £20m one.

“But the Premier League and EFL were both keen to effectively hit Leicester quite hard because of what happened with the 22/23 situation, which they effectively got away with.”

Leicester players clap travelling fans — Ex-Leicester star Albrighton has hope for his former club despite the deduction

‘I think they’ll survive’

Premier League title winner with Leicester, Marc Albrighton, also believes that the points deduction could be a good thing.

“I’m glad it’s out there now… they can just deal with it now and just move on from it,” Albrighton admitted on talkSPORT.

“I think they’ll survive. I’m not denying they’re in a relegation battle, but that’s out there now, it’s out of the way, they can focus on keeping the club in that league.

“They’ve got Andy King in charge at the minute, a person that everybody respects at the football club, the fans and lads like him too.

“I think having this news out there probably even strengthens their position to get another manager in, just in terms of the certainty coming from the uncertainty of what the deduction would be.

“They’ve got good enough players in the building to keep them safe from the drop in that division.”