Could Jamie Vardy rejoin Leicester after back-to-back relegations? Ex-Foxes striker discusses stunning transfer & what has gone wrong in ‘upsetting’ fall from grace

When major silverware was being hoisted aloft under the guidance of Claudio Ranieri and Brendan Rodgers, with odds famously being bucked in spectacular fashion, few could have predicted how humbling Leicester’s fall from grace would be.

Having slipped through the top-flight trapdoor again in 2025, a deduction of six points for breaches of financial regulations this term has done the collective cause few favours. The Foxes would, however, still be sat in the Championship drop zone even if they had a full tally to their name.

Demotion into the third tier has already been confirmed, with it yet to be determined who will be calling shots from the dugout next season - with Gary Rowett currently at the helm - what the first-team squad will look like and how many supporters will fill seats at the King Power Stadium in 2026-27.

Could legendary striker Jamie Vardy - who bid farewell last summer with 200 goals to his name through 500 appearances - return to familiar surroundings at the age 39 after one season at Cremonese in Italy and prove to be a saviour of sorts?

When that question was put to Dickov, the former Foxes frontman - who still holds the club close to his heart - told GOAL when speaking exclusively in association with MrQ: “They do need something, whether it's Jamie or not.

“I'm gutted for everybody involved with the club. There's a lot of good people working behind the scenes, and the fans especially, to see the King Power the other night with the amount of empty seats, it was quite upsetting for me actually.

“I had two fantastic spells there. In the first spell, the club went into administration after just being relegated. The one thing that got the club through was the support of the fans. We'd just moved into the Walker’s Stadium at the time, they were selling out. There was a siege mentality about the place that really drove us on as players.

“Second time round, they were in League One and they were still nearly selling out the stadium. There was a real connection between what was going on on the pitch and off the pitch in the stands with the fans. That connection seems to have gone, which is really sad.”

Dickov added on the reasons for Leicester’s demise, with the 53-year-old Scot allowing emotion to spill out: “I'd love to see them getting that back as quickly as possible. I know the board are getting a bit of stick and people within the board and the owners, but the players have got to stand up and be counted.

“To look at that squad that they've got, the players that they've got, the experience they've got, to be one of the favourites to get promoted again and then to be relegated with a couple of games to go is shambolic really.

“It's quite easy for players, players are very good at blaming everybody else. I was one of them myself and we're very good at saying it's everybody else's fault. Sometimes when you're in that position, you have to take a good look at yourself. There are too many of them that have thrown the club under the bus in my opinion.

“It's something I feel quite strongly about. I'm not usually like that, but to see a wonderful club with the fan base that they've got in that position, with the players that they've got, isn't quite right.”

Leicester will need to find a spark from somewhere this summer, and that could mean putting a call in to Premier League title winner Vardy. He only signed a one-year contract when heading to Serie A as a free agent, although that deal does include the option for a 12-month extension.

It may be that the veteran former England international has no desire to join a rescue mission at this stage of his career, although he has never been the type to back down from a challenge. The Foxes have one more game to take in this season, away at Blackburn on Saturday, before efforts to deliver a brighter future can begin in earnest.