‘He needs time’ – he got four hours. What went wrong for Foxes’ Cifuentes?

Time is what Marti Cifuentes was said to need at Leicester City when Khun Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha spoke about the Spaniard’s future as Foxes manager.

He got four hours.

Khun Top talked to BBC Radio Leicester in a rare round of interviews with the media on Sunday morning and outlined that he and the club’s hierarchy would be meeting with 43-year-old Cifuentes later in the day.

The Foxes’ Thai owner watched the club in person for the first time in months at the King Power Stadium on Saturday when they were upstaged 2-1 by lowly Oxford United to remain stuck 14th in the Championship.

Khun Top’s assessment was to say “it’s clear we need to improve quickly” to challenge for a play-off spot, after freely admitting their initial aim of automatic promotion to the Premier League was already over.

“The way we are doing is not enough, the results are not good and no one expected that Leicester would be in this position,” Khun Top told BBC Radio Leicester.

“The team and the players need support, it’s clear.”

But talk of fixing the Foxes on Sunday morning did not come with the clear warning of what was to come when Cifuentes was called in for a meeting later the same day.

“He should be doing well, but he needs time to do it,” Khun Top explained when quizzed about Cifuentes’ six months at the helm.

“We need to help him also. But football is a results business, we all know that, and we have to get back to him and help him quickly to find a solution.”

When pressed about his backing for Cifuentes, the owner added: “I hope to talk and will assess with him, and the whole club together, and then hope we can find a solution.”

The solution: Sack Cifuentes.

It was a move that sections of Leicester supporters had demanded for weeks, if not months, as the Foxes stuttered on their return to the second tier.

Only twice under Cifuentes did they manage back-to-back wins in the league.

The last time Leicester dropped into the division, they were top at this stage of the season and 31 points better off under Enzo Maresca – who would go on to leave the Foxes after promotion to take charge at Chelsea.

And in the season that the club marks 10 years since its miraculous 5,000-1 Premier League title win, they now rank among the worst Foxes sides of the past 30 years.

The last time they had fewer points in the second tier after 29 games was in 2007-08 when they had collected 34 by this stage in a season that ended with relegation to League One.

“We are not consistent,” Khun Top said.

“We can play so well and play so bad in the same game and that needs to be fixed. I think we can address the problem and why we are in this position, but I think moving forward we need to fix something and we need to fix it quick.”

But Cifuentes’ part in Leicester’s slide is only a sliver of a sharp decline for the club, with former Foxes striker Matty Fryatt telling BBC Radio Leicester issues go beyond who their manager is.

One person who works closely with Cifuentes said the Spaniard had been doing the job “with one hand tied behind his back”.

The reason? A lack of money put into rebuilding the side for another Championship season after selling off Mads Hermansen, Kasey McAteer, James Justin, Wilfred Ndidi and Conor Coady in an effort to comply with spending rules.

Then there was the loss of Jamie Vardy, the talismanic former England striker and Foxes legend that the club failed to find a suitable – or remotely adequate – successor for despite having years to plan for his exit.

Leicester were one of only three clubs in the division – alongside Oxford and the now administration-hit Sheffield Wednesday – not to pay for a permanent summer transfer.

The charges the club faces for alleged breaches of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) when they were promoted from the Championship in 2024, and efforts to balance their books, impacted the squad Cifuentes could call on.

And those issues may yet cost Leicester even more, with a decision yet to be reached about any points penalty relating to the charges.

The side that Andy King has taken interim control of is not grappling with that complicated reality.

But how Leicester go about trying to strengthen their squad during what remains of the winter transfer window remains an issue.

“We have to spend well, we have to manage the rules to be compliant with PSR,” Khun Top said.

“We have to be able to select good players to come who are still available, but we have do it in the right way and it’s not easy. And it’s limited, very limited.”

Owynn Palmer-Atkin, BBC Radio Leicester commentator

While the timeline of Sunday afternoon surprised many Leicester City fans, the eventual departure of Marti Cifuentes did not.

Chairman Khun Top told us that Cifuentes “needed time” and that he needed “help, quick”. A meeting was held shortly after that interview, where it felt like the Spaniard would be able to keep his job if he saw eye-to-eye with the ownership.

Clearly, that was not the case.

There is an acceptance that the job at hand for any manager coming through the door at King Power Stadium is a big one. It is a club in total transition, and needs major rebuilding from the squad up to ensure a return to the Premier League.

Now though, the fear will be one of a relegation battle with a potential points deduction on the horizon.