Leicester City Faces Rebuild After Relegation – Sam Tierney Commits

When Leicester City dropped out of the Women’s Super League in May, the fall hit hard and fast. Relegation to WSL 2 didn’t just cost them a place in the top flight – it ripped the squad apart.

Fourteen players have gone in the summer window. Nine of them played in that bruising play-off defeat by Charlton Athletic. The spine of the side has been stripped.

Janina Leitzig left for Manchester United. Hannah Cain, Noemie Mouchon and Jutta Rantala – Leicester’s brightest attacking threats – all headed to Everton. For most clubs, that kind of exodus signals a reset. For Leicester, it demands a rebuild on an almost total scale.

And yet, right in the middle of the upheaval, the captain stayed put.

Tierney stays as others walk away

Sam Tierney, the longest-serving player at the club, chose July to plant her flag. A new deal, running to 2028. A statement as much as a signature.

The 27-year-old has already played 151 times for Leicester. She has seen the club climb, stall, and now fall. She has lived the thin with the thick. So why commit now, when so many have walked?

"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.

"I wanted to succeed and we've had a good number of years where it's been up and down, but I feel like now we're at a point where we can rebuild.

"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.

"It's a family kind of club and we're just going through a change. I am very proud to play for Leicester."

Last season tested that pride to its limits. Leicester’s five-year stay in the WSL ended in the same grim fashion as the men’s side, who tumbled to League One. The women’s team managed just two wins from 22 league games and finished with a brutal goal difference of -41. They couldn’t keep the ball out of their own net and couldn’t put it in at the other end.

Questions followed quickly. Would they still play at King Power Stadium? Would the budget be slashed? Was this the start of a long slide?

The club’s response has been decisive. Players who wanted out have been allowed to leave, generating fees that have gone straight back into the squad. It is a gamble, but a clear one: trim the wage bill, cash in, then reinvest.

Tierney believes this is the moment to build something that lasts – and something that turns heads.

"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.

"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."

From parks to promotion – and back again

Tierney arrived from Sheffield United in 2020. Since then she has played under seven different managers. She helped drive Leicester to promotion to the WSL in 2021. She was there for the run to the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals in 2024. Every high has been followed by a jolt.

She knows how fragile top-flight status can be. She also knows Leicester cannot afford to become a permanent yo-yo act.

The changes she wants will take time.

"The type of person I am means I'm not happy if I don't feel like I'm finished somewhere," she said.

"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."

That is the challenge: not just to go up, but to stay up. To be sustainable in the WSL, not a visitor passing through every couple of years.

A different Leicester takes shape

Pre-season has already given a glimpse of what this “new Leicester” might look like. They beat Rugby Borough, drew with Manchester United and lost to Liverpool. Not spectacular, but not timid either.

Six new signings have come through the door. Three more players have followed Tierney in renewing their contracts. The churn has been significant, the intent obvious.

As they gear up for their WSL 2 opener against Sheffield United on 6 September (14:00 BST), Tierney can feel the 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."

For Tierney personally, this season offers something she has not had for a while: the chance to play without the constant dread of the drop.

She knows the toll those survival scraps take.

"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 is about more than recovery. It is about 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.

"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."

Relegation stripped Leicester back to their foundations. Tierney has chosen to stay and help lay the next layer. The question now is whether the club can match her ambition and build a Leicester that no one wants to leave.