Why This Boxing Day Is A Massive One For This EFL Manager

Marti Cifuentes Needs A Big Performance From His Side On Boxing Day In Order To Keep His Job With Pressure Growing

It certainly has been an underwhelming season so far for Leicester City and manager Marti Cifuentes. They find themselves currently in 13th place in the Championship table and haven’t been able to string a set of positive results together to gather any sort of momentum. For a team with parachute payments and that were relegated from the Premier League last season, they should be one of the stronger teams in the league.

In the last six games, Leicester have had a few terrible results including losing 3-0 away at Southampton and of course losing 4-1 at Loftus Road at the weekend. This is concerning as it seems that Cifuentes cannot get a consistent set of performances together from the squad that he has at his disposal. Recently Harry Winks has been dropped from the matchday squad which fans have put down to him not wanting to be at the club any longer so therefore they would prefer to see other players given a chance that put maximum effort into every game.

It has been an unhappy return to Loftus Road for Marti Cifuentes.

Queens Park Rangers lead Leicester City 4-0 at half-time. pic.twitter.com/GnaIKjfcAu

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) December 20, 2025

So, is Marti Cifuentes under pressure? At the weekend he returned to Loftus Road to play Queens Park Rangers, and the return couldn’t have been any more disastrous for the former Hoops boss as Leicester found themselves 4-0 down at half time. The Foxes did score a late consolation goal to make the final result 4-1 but this left fans very disappointed as previous to this game, they were beginning to gain a bit of hope for the season.

EXCLUSIVE: Championship boss at risk of sacking just four months into job https://t.co/ZVCZe8Uzxy

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) November 30, 2025

It is unfair to put all of the blame on the manager for Leicester’s underwhelming campaign so far as with constant PSR issues he hasn’t been given much money to bring his own players into the club and instead is working mostly with players that he inherited from previous managers.

Alongside this, the relationship between the board and the fans over the past few years has also taken a backwards step with fans getting increasingly frustrated over the lack of communication from those in charge of the club. Various decisions over the past few seasons have made fans question if the club is being taken in the right direction by those at the top. A recent example that has brought a lot of backlash to the hierarchy was the last-minute decision to delay nonplaying staff’s pay by 2 weeks just 6 hours before they were due to get the money into their bank accounts.

Leicester City have informed staff they will not be paid December's salary before Christmas due to an 'unfortunate alignment of payroll dates'.

(via @JPercyTelegraph)

Not good... pic.twitter.com/tVkhQJGOz9

— The #EFL Zone (@TheFLZone) December 19, 2025

So, a bad result against Watford on Boxing Day could bring an end to Marti Cifuentes’ tenure as Leicester boss. Especially as they have their legal case with the Premier League concluding which is likely to cost them a points deduction of up to 12 points and therefore see them drop further down the table. So, the decision would come down to the ambition of the owners as the later that they leave it to relieve Cifuentes from his duties, then the less chance they have of instant promotion back to the Premier League.