Leicester City Women’s Team Faces Rebuild After Relegation

When Leicester City dropped out of the Women's Super League in May, the relegation did not just end a five-year stay in the top flight. It ripped the squad apart.

Fourteen players have gone in a single summer. Nine of them played in the WSL play-off defeat by Charlton Athletic. Goalkeeper Janina Leitzig left for Manchester United. The sharp, attacking trio of Hannah Cain, Noemie Mouchon and Jutta Rantala moved to Everton. What was a slow decline suddenly became a full-scale clearout.

This is not a tweak. It is a rebuild from the ground up.

Amid the exits, one decision cut through the gloom. In July, captain Sam Tierney, the longest-serving player at the club, signed a new deal that runs to 2028. At a time when the door seemed to be revolving at speed, she chose to stay put.

The 27-year-old has made 151 appearances for Leicester. She has lived through the rise, the struggle and now the fall. So why commit again?

"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. She talked about the swings in fortune, the good years and the bad, and then about a turning point. "I feel like now we're at a point where we can rebuild."

Leicester’s reputation has taken a battering. Two wins from 22 league games last season. A brutal -41 goal difference. Relegation that mirrored the men’s side, who tumbled into League One. The questions came quickly: what next for the women’s team? Would they still play at King Power Stadium? Would the budget be cut back to the bone?

Tierney bristles at the idea that Leicester are a lost cause.

"I think it's difficult because Leicester, at the minute, gets a bit of a bad rep. The club is fantastic and so are the people," she said. "It's a family kind of club and we're just going through a change. I am very proud to play for Leicester."

The club’s response to relegation has been decisive. Players who wanted to go have been allowed to leave, with fees reinvested into a new squad. Six signings are already through the door. Three more players have followed Tierney in renewing their contracts. The churn is obvious, but so is the intent.

Whether it is enough to power an immediate return is an open question. Tierney sees something bigger at stake: the chance to build a Leicester that others envy.

"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. Her ambition now is not subtle. "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."

She knows the ceiling. She insists the club can reach it.

From Sheffield to the spine of Leicester

Tierney arrived from Sheffield United in 2020. Since then she has played under seven managers, ridden the chaos and still anchored the dressing room. She helped the club win promotion to the WSL in 2021. She was part of the side that reached the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals in 2024.

Those high points only sharpened the pain of last season. Leicester have become a yo-yo presence around the top two tiers. Tierney wants that to end.

The midfielder is realistic about the scale of the job. Change, she says, "won't happen overnight". The aim is not just to get back up, but to stay there, to become sustainable in the WSL rather than a team that constantly falls through the trapdoor.

"The type of person I am means I'm not happy if I don't feel like I'm finished somewhere," she said. The club’s plan for the future, and the changes required to get there, have her full backing. "The direction the club want to go in and the change that needs to be made to do that, I'm on board with."

Her personal mission is clear. "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 reset

Pre-season has already offered a snapshot of the new Leicester. A win over Rugby Borough. A draw with Manchester United. A defeat to Liverpool. Not perfect, but not flat either. There is at least a pulse.

As the club prepare for their WSL 2 opener against Sheffield United on 6 September (14:00 BST), Tierney senses a different energy around the training ground.

"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. The churn of players is, to her, part of the sport. What matters is the mentality of those coming in. "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."

She wants this side to tear up the old script. "We want to be a different Leicester and it's time to change the narrative on who we are and how we're seen."

There is also a human element. The last few seasons have been draining. Fighting relegation every week takes a toll that, in Tierney’s view, "is not always acknowledged". The fear of dropping, the constant pressure, the sense that one mistake might cost a club its future – it wears players down.

"It's hard as a player. You're trying to give it your all but things just aren't going right," she said. This year, she hopes, can be different. Not easier, but more enjoyable. A season where Leicester are hunting, not hiding.

The target is obvious: promotion. But Tierney refuses to dress it up as a quick fix.

"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," she said. "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."

That is the line in the sand. Leicester want to go up, and stay up.

"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."

After a summer of exits, that promise from the captain is what remains: a commitment not just to climb back, but to build something that does not crumble at the first sign of pressure.