TornadoShaunUK
Well-Known Member
I came across this rather interesting quote regarding our administration in 2002, from a member on a Crystal Palace fans forum while I was looking for some opinions from their fans about Alexandar Tunchev.
Needless to say it made interesting reading. We obviously get a lot of grief even now from fans of other clubs and many of them do not know the whole story, and indeed many Leicester fans don't know the whole story either or they forget certain things that happened. Thought I would share this with you, it seems like it is a genuine source of information having found it on the forum of another football club, so I'd say it was highly unlikely this was 'made up'. Thought I'd share it with you all.
These are the facts (I know because I was one of the creditors):
Leicester went into administration after being relegated in 2002. They did everything possible to avoid going into administration, they sold several players for a total of around £10 million and sent as many players as possible out on loan to save on wages. Two of their players played much of the season for no wages. An offer was accepted for Muzzy Izzet but he didn't want to go to Middlesbrough.
The collapse of ITV digital, which led to reduced income and a temporary depression in the transfer market meant they couldn't shift as many players as they'd have liked. The likes of Matt Elliott and Tim Flowers were made available on free transfers but there were no takers.
The major creditors all agreed to restructure the debts the players agreed to defer some of their wages. It looked like they'd survive the season without administration.
But Eric Hall changed that. Leicester had sacked Dennis Wise (for breaking a team mate's jaw), and Hall started legal proceedings to wind the club up over a small amount he was owed. He did it for revenge because the club had sacked his client. The only way to protect the club from the legal action was to go into administration.
It's not true to say they paid 1p in the pound - none of the creditors received that amount. The majority of what was owed was taken over by the consortium that took them out of administration, so was paid in full, or is still being paid.
Most of the debt was football creditors and the stadium loan. They still owe something like £15 million on the stadium.
Unsecured creditors weren't so lucky. The taxman got something like 10%, but smaller creditors ended up with nothing.
The reason Leicester got so much criticism was because they did well on the pitch despite being in administration. Ipswich and Derby, who were relegated at the same time as Leicester also subsequently went into administration, but didn't get anywhere near the same flak for it.
Leicester were promoted the season they went into administration, but because of the debts the new owners took over they could only afford free signings and were inevitably relegated again immediately.
Needless to say it made interesting reading. We obviously get a lot of grief even now from fans of other clubs and many of them do not know the whole story, and indeed many Leicester fans don't know the whole story either or they forget certain things that happened. Thought I would share this with you, it seems like it is a genuine source of information having found it on the forum of another football club, so I'd say it was highly unlikely this was 'made up'. Thought I'd share it with you all.
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