Leicester City Women's Team Faces Rebuild After Relegation
When Leicester City dropped out of the Women's Super League in May, the fall hit hard and fast. Relegation to WSL 2 ripped open the squad. The exodus followed.
Fourteen players have gone in this window. Nine of them were on the pitch in that painful play-off defeat to Charlton Athletic. Big names, too. Goalkeeper Janina Leitzig left for Manchester United. The sharp, inventive front line of Hannah Cain, Noemie Mouchon and Jutta Rantala moved to Everton.
The core of a WSL side, gone in a few weeks. What’s left is a club stripped back to its frame and forced into a rebuild.
Tierney stays as Leicester reset
In the middle of that churn, one decision cut against the tide. Captain Sam Tierney, the longest-serving player at the club, signed a new deal in July that runs to 2028.
At 27, with 151 appearances behind her and a free exit there for the taking, she chose to stay. She chose the fight.
"I'm not the type to want to jump ship. Since I've been at Leicester, I've created a genuine connection with the club," she told BBC Sport. That line matters. Leicester are not an easy sell right now.
The Foxes’ relegation mirrored the men’s side, who also dropped, to League One. The women’s team won just two of 22 league games last season. A goal difference of -41 underlined how far off the pace they were, especially in front of goal. Every week felt like a survival exercise.
Doubts quickly swirled around the women’s project. Would they still play at King Power Stadium? Would the budget be slashed? Was this the start of a slow fade?
The club’s response has been decisive. Players who wanted to leave have been allowed to go, often for valuable fees. Those funds are being pushed straight back into the squad. It is a reset, not a retreat. Whether it is enough, nobody can say yet. Tierney believes it can be the start of something sharper, something that “makes people jealous” in the years ahead.
From park pitches to ambition
Her loyalty is rooted in the journey. When Tierney arrived from Sheffield United in 2020, Leicester were training on local parks, not at Belvoir Drive alongside the men.
"When I first joined Leicester, we were training on one of the local parks. We weren't at Belvoir Drive where the men were. The progression is incredible," she said.
That climb included promotion to the WSL in 2021 and a run to the Women's FA Cup semi-finals in 2024. She has lived every step of it. Seven managers. Constant change. And still she leans into the next phase.
"I want to make sure people want to play for Leicester. I want people to stay at Leicester. I want people to be jealous of Leicester.
"I know that's the potential of this club and hopefully we'll get that."
Tierney is clear-eyed about the scale of the task. She talks about sustainability, about ending the yo-yo cycle that has defined Leicester’s recent relationship with the top flight. Relegation, promotion, relegation. She wants something steadier and stronger.
"The type of person I am means I'm not happy if I don't feel like I'm finished somewhere," she said. The job, in her mind, is far from done.
"The direction the club want to go in and the change that needs to be made to do that, I'm on board with.
"Ultimately, my biggest thing is to make sure people feel the same connection that I have to the club and they want the club to progress.
"The moment that I leave, I want Leicester to be in a better position than when I started here."
Signs of a new Leicester
Pre-season has already offered a glimpse of what this new Leicester might look like. Results have been mixed, but the pattern is less important than the feel.
They beat Rugby Borough. They held Manchester United to a draw. They lost to Liverpool. Six new signings have come in. Three other players have renewed alongside Tierney. A new core is forming.
As they build towards their WSL 2 opener against Sheffield United on 6 September (14:00 BST), the captain senses a shift.
"You can see there's been a reflection period, there's been a review and you can see the direction we want to go in. We can feel that. We've changed," she said.
"Players change all the time, every team goes through that, but it's important that everyone coming in has the same drive and desire to commit to it.
"We've got those people and it has been quite refreshing. We want to be a different Leicester and it's time to change the narrative on who we are and how we're seen."
That word – narrative – hangs over the club. Last season, Leicester were defined by struggle, by late escapes that never quite came, by the weekly weight of relegation pressure. Tierney knows how corrosive that can be.
"It's hard as a player. You're trying to give it your all but things just aren't going right," she said. The strain is constant, and she believes it is "not always acknowledged" how draining those campaigns are for everyone in the building.
This year, she wants something else. Not just survival. Identity.
"We want to be an exciting team, we want to be a team on the ball, we want to be a team that's difficult to beat and we want to surprise some people."
Promotion, but on their terms
The target is obvious. Leicester want to go straight back up. Tierney does not dodge that. But she refuses to chase promotion at any cost.
"Of course the aim is to go up. But it's got to be done in a sustainable way because if I sit here this time next year and we're in a worse position, then there's no point.
We're going to make sure we're ready to challenge at the top of this league, get promoted and stay in the WSL for years to come.
That is the line in the sand. Leicester have already felt what it is like to scramble into the top flight and then cling on. This time, the captain wants a side built to stay there.
The mass departures have forced Leicester to strip everything back. In the middle of it all, Sam Tierney has planted her flag. The question now is whether the club can match her conviction and turn a bruising relegation into the foundation of something far more durable.
