Leicester City are in League One under Russell Martin and facing an all-time low but revival hopes remain at King Power
As Leicester City prepare for what is only their second ever season as a third-tier team, Adam Bate visits the King Power Stadium for Sky Sports to speak to new boss Russell Martin. He finds a football club looking to the future but the ghosts of the past remain…
Tuesday 11 August 2026 08:20, UK
These are strange times for Leicester City. There is a nascent optimism about this League One season under new boss Russell Martin. The Foxes are favourites for the title. Season tickets are sold out. But there is a now familiar fragility to it all too.
To illustrate that, anything less than a win at Notts County on the opening weekend and the fledgling table will show Leicester in their lowest ever position in English football. They have only been in the third tier once before and they never dropped below sixth.
There are those still angered by the fall, wondering not only how it has been allowed to happen but that those considered responsible for it are still in post. Others are just ready to embrace the prospect of winning football matches. It all feels a little precarious.
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Being at the King Power Stadium for Martin's first competitive game in charge in the first round of the Carabao Cup was a curious experience. Leicester beat Northampton Town 1-0 thanks to Caleb Okoli's deflected effort in the first half in front of a sparse crowd.
From the near empty press room, where continental journalists congregated not so long ago, to the sight of those past glories being replayed on the video screens prior to kick-off. Revisiting those triumphs used to feel celebratory, now there is an air of melancholy.
On the pitch, they could have been behind inside a minute had Northampton's Harvey Saunders punished a loose pass in Leicester's own defensive third. Martin would need the hide of rhino not to have been envisaging the wider reaction in that split second.
Speaking to him about that afterwards, he acknowledged: "There were a few scary moments at the start of the game and the end, which we will sort out." They will need to because it seems inevitable that opponents will be eager to pounce on such indecision.
Martin still oozes confidence but Rangers was a chastening experience and he too is rebuilding. Like his employers, he has gone from English football's top tier to its third in no time at all. Both have something to prove. Maybe they can be good for each other.
The new man is making all the right noises. "Honestly, since I have been with the people around the club and around the city, they have been great. I walked there last night, had dinner there, people have been brilliant with us." The appetite for a fresh start is there.
There are clubs who fear losing players in the wake of relegation. At Leicester, having suffered a dreaded double drop, a third relegation in four seasons, that is not the mood. Cleansing the collective memory of those failures is essential within the dressing room.
New faces can fast-track the healing process and the business looks smart. The experienced Conor Chaplin has come in, while Wes Burns looks a snip having also arrived from Ipswich. Martin knows Liam Cullen from their time together at Swansea.
All are proven at the level above. Tommy Watson, a loan signing from Brighton, is younger but looked an exciting prospect at Sunderland and is still only 20. Players have turned down Championship moves for the chance to be a part of this Leicester rebuild.
Just the act of moving on players who do not want to be at the club and bringing in those who do can help with the cultural reset. When Martin talks of a team that is "hungry to run, brave with the ball and aggressive in and out of possession" the appeal is obvious.
Martin's commitment to the possession game is unwavering and has been evident in pre-season even as he constructs his new side. Leicester dominated the ball against Serie A side Genoa but lost the match. They will need to improve on the small details.
Andy King, who for now holds the extraordinary distinction of having played for the club at their highest and lowest points, is the man responsible for Leicester's attacking set-pieces. That they scored the winner from one against Northampton is encouraging.
That they could not add to that goal against League Two opposition suggests that failing to capitalise on their possession is an issue to address. Do they need to add more firepower given that Bobby Cordova-Reid played as a lone striker against Northampton?
"We will probably add to the squad - well, we will add - but as for when and where it will depend on what is right for us," he told Sky Sports. "Even with the players we have got, we can create more, we can do more - it is not just adding someone else - and we will."
But this is about more than refreshing a forward line, this is about refreshing a football club. "We are certainly excited about what we can achieve. And we are going to need the supporters." The sense is that those supporters, like the team, could still go either way.
