The Chairman's Programme Notes

Good evening, everyone. Welcome back to King Power Stadium and welcome to our guests from Manchester United for what should be another exciting night of Premier League football.

With a challenging transfer window drawing to a close, I think it’s important for our fans that we address some of the questions our supporters have been asking in recent weeks. It’s been a challenging period for the Club, in which demonstrating our commitment to long-term sustainability has become a necessary priority.

First and foremost, Leicester City’s overall financial position is entirely secure and underpinned by my ongoing personal commitment and that of my family. The Club is as safe in our hands as it has been every day for the last 12 years. It’s our commitment to that responsibility that drives every decision we make.

Sometimes, that commitment means making difficult, short-term decisions that protect the Club’s long-term interests, such as our approach to this summer’s transfer window. Due to an increase in our net spend over recent seasons, some measures were necessary to ensure we manage our compliance with the game’s sustainability regulations. While we continue to build our wider revenue streams to compete with the established elite in the long-term, our short-term means of offsetting such expenditure is generating profits through player trading. We did that successfully for five straight summer windows before 2021, where we opted to make further investments in the squad without a significant sale. This summer, we couldn’t risk unbalancing that equation further, so we decided space would need to be made in the squad before new additions could be brought in.

Building the Club to a level where we are less reliant on player trading takes good management; strategic, sustainable investment; success on the pitch; and time. The visible growth of our commercial revenue streams demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction, but the impact of the pandemic has been undeniable. When we first announced our intention to expand King Power Stadium and develop the surrounding site – a project central to our long-term growth – we would have anticipated such work being well underway by this stage. We are 100 per cent committed to the project and indeed hope to have positive news from the local authorities relative to planning permission imminently, but the project’s delay has unquestionably been among the many consequences of the unprecedented global events of recent years.

The message I hope our supporters take from this is that the long-term future of your Club comes before everything. Our consistent commitment to you throughout the last 12 years has been to build your Club up for long-term, sustainable success. In this context, sustainable is the key word. One thing that will always remain constant is our commitment to Leicester City’s long-term growth and security.

The love my family and I have for Leicester City and the experiences that have bound us all together means we simply will not risk setting it down a path we don’t feel is responsible and in Leicester City’s best interests.

With the window closing tonight, bringing greater certainty for Brendan, his staff and players, we all have an opportunity to restart our season and get back to a position Leicester City knows best – on the front foot and ready to fight together against all in our path. I’ve seen what can be achieved in this stadium when our Club – players, staff and supporters – are connected and fighting for our cause. It’s a powerful combination. I hope we can all reconnect with it tonight and take it into the rest of the season.

Thank you for your continued support.

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha
Chairman