Championship Spotlight: Leicester City set for post-promotion disarray? Rohl to exit Sheff Weds?

The Championship Spotlight is on Leicester City as their financial situation threatens to spoil their incoming promotion with mass sales possible in the summer.

LEICESTER CITY FORCED INTO POST-PROMOTION FIRE SALE?
The Foxes returned to winning ways in midweek following a rare dip in form so they remain well on course for promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

After Leicester were relegated with a squad which was supposedly ‘too good to go down’ last season, Pep Guardiola disciple Enzo Maresca has restored the good vibes at The King Power Stadium as they have taken the Championship by storm.

Sitting five points clear of third-placed Leeds United, Leicester are firm favourites for promotion from the Championship and they are likely to seal the title in the process.

It is not all sunshine and rainbows at Leicester, however. Earlier this week, concerning reports emerged regarding the club’s financial situation, with The Telegraph’s John Percy saying the Foxes are ‘under pressure to sell players this summer even if they return to the Premier League as they fight to avoid breaching financial rules with them expected to exceed permitted losses of £83 million over three years’.

In the Premier League, fans of Everton and Nottingham Forest especially have become accustomed to the maximum figure of £105m for losses, but it is £83m in the Championship and Leicester are on track to surpass that figure.

Leicester channelled their inner Chelsea to exploit a financial loophole to ensure that an independent commission ruled in their favour over the Football League as they argued that the £83m rule did not apply to them because they were in the Premier League last season.

It’s a sticky situation and while they could evade the wrath of the Football League, Leicester City (like many other clubs) are still walking a financial tightrope because of how stringent the current rules are for losses over three years.

With a cynical cap on, these recent revelations make the (at the time) surprising reports that Leicester standout Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could have been sold to Brighton in January an awful lot more feasible.

Leicester have a squad that’s far too good for the Championship and even if their current situation is not as serious as it’s been made out, clubs in the Premier League and around Europe will be queueing up to capitalise on their troubles and snatch their standout assets, which in turn would make Maresca’s job next season a lot more difficult than he would have initially thought it would be.

Football can be a bloody cruel game and Leicester’s issues may see them take one step forward and two steps back before facing an uphill battle upon their return to the Premier League.

READ MORE: Premier League and Championship swap-shop? Luton and Ipswich our great hopes

DANNY ROHL TURNING WATER TO WINE AT HILLSBOROUGH
Maresca is a leading contender to win the Championship Manager of the Season award for this campaign but he is being seriously challenged by Sheffield Wednesday‘s novice boss.

When 34-year-old Danny Rohl arrived at Hillsborough in October, even with this being his first managerial job, he came with an impressive CV following coaching spells with RB Leipzig, Southampton, Borussia Dortmund and Germany.

At the time of Rohl’s Championship arrival, his decision to choose Wednesday as his first managerial destination was a puzzling one.

Under controversial owner Dejphon Chansiri, the Owls were coming off a turbulent summer which saw Darren Moore leave shortly following their play-off final win and their pre-season was marred by their underwhelming recruitment and the appointment of former Watford boss Xisco Munoz.

The 43-year-old previously did a decent but unremarkable job at Vicarage Road but he was likely the cheap option for Chansiri and they were massive favourites for relegation after he won just three of his first nine games in charge across all competitions.

READ MORE: The 10 most depressing one-time Premier League clubs to support in the last decade

Rohl – who has pulled together an impressive coaching team which includes Chris Powell – had to deal with a post-Xisco hangover at the start of his tenure as he attempted to get his coaching philosophy across to his squad amidst a relegation battle.

It took a good few weeks for Rohl to breathe life into Sheff Wednesday’s season but they have kicked on since they ended their 13-game winless run against fellow strugglers Rotherham United at the end of October.

Fast forward to today, Championship safety is miraculously a realistic opportunity for the Owls following four wins on the bounce in the league.

Overall, he has a win percentage of over 42% (12 victories in 28 games) and while Rohl’s side remain 23rd in the table, the fight to avoid the drop is between most of the bottom half as just two points separate Wednesday and 16th-placed Plymouth Argyle.

The form of Wednesday and QPR – who also looked certain for relegation before the appointment of Marti Cifuentes – has punished several sides who have sleepwalked into serious trouble. At this stage, at least eight teams are battling to avoid joining Rotherham United in heading down to League One so it’s shaping up to be a thoroughly entertaining end to the season in the Championship at the top and bottom.

Momentum is often a key factor during the run-in and Wednesday have that in abundance at the moment so even though they – barring Rotherham – arguably have the worst squad in the league, Rohl’s ongoing masterclass has them on track to achieve the unthinkable and stay up after initially looking set to go down with a whimper.

On the evidence of this season, Rohl appears to be a managerial star in the making and regardless of whether they avoid the drop, it will surely be only a matter of time before their young German coach moves on to bigger and better things.

He has managed to galvanise a football club who were being torn apart by Chansiri, an owner renowned for being a nightmare to work with.

Rival interest in Rohl is presumably already bubbling away in the background and this could come to the surface as early as this summer as managerless clubs attempt to lure him away from Hillsborough.

And as heartbreaking as Rohl’s potential exit would be, right-minded Owls supporters surely could not begrudge him accepting a better job after they have benefitted hugely from an ambitious up-and-coming manager betting on himself by taking a job when more experienced bosses would have told Chansiri to f*** off.