He knew what the brief was and that he had to get results in the next block of games after the November international break, but Steve Cooper did not see his sacking as Leicester City manager coming so soon.
After Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat against Chelsea, the 44-year-old had conducted his usual post-match media commitments and entertained his opposite number, Enzo Maresca, and the visitors’ coaching staff, who also met with their previous club’s hierarchy for a reunion following the game, before travelling back to his family home in Wrexham, north Wales. Cooper stays in his flat in Nottinghamshire during the week when working, so this was respite time with his loved ones before planning commenced for Saturday’s trip to London to play Brentford.
Cooper was blissfully unaware that Leicester’s owner Aiyawatt ‘Khun Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha had not seen enough progress over the first 12 games of his reign and had decided a change of leadership was required, with avoiding relegation from the Premier League this season so critical. As always in these situations, it was director of football Jon Rudkin who delivered the news, to Cooper’s astonishment. But the choice of the club hierarchy to remove him so quickly has been questioned by some after 10 points from 12 games, which included matches against Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
The manager was not the only one surprised by the club making the change so soon. The vast majority of the Leicester squad left almost immediately after the Chelsea game to board a flight to the Danish city of Copenhagen for their annual Christmas party. They were not due to return to training until Tuesday.
The players have been travelling to Denmark’s capital at this time of year since 2015, during Leicester’s shock Premier League title-winning season, where they wear fancy dress during the first day’s festivities before partying again on the second night.
It was unfortunate timing for photographs to emerge showing some, including Conor Coady and Harry Winks, partying in Copenhagen nightclub Museo as the news of Cooper’s sacking was announced. In the images, there is a sign being held up reading: ‘Enzo I miss you’. It is not known who produced the sign, but it was perhaps naive for the players not to know they may be photographed near it.
The lingering connection between the players and Maresca, who left to join Chelsea last summer after leading Leicester back to the Premier League at the first attempt in his only season in charge, was a major problem for Cooper as he tried to teach a different brand of football to a group that had the Maresca way, a method they enjoyed, drilled into them last year.
Maresca during the trophy parade after Leicester’s promotion (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Many of the players, especially the ones who had embraced and profited the most from the former Manchester City assistant’s incredibly structured style of play, struggled to get to grips with his successor’s approach, which afforded them much more freedom and called for more personal responsibility in decision-making, especially in the final third. Players who were key to Maresca’s style, such as Jannik Vestergaard, Ricardo Pereira and even Winks, were left out of the side by the Welshman on occasions. Cooper struggled in particular to foster a relationship with Vestergaard.
Some players noticed a huge change from Maresca’s methods and did not take to Cooper’s, even growing frustrated at times. He was seen as a good guy by the players and they were supportive of what he was trying to do, especially Jamie Vardy, who took a deep interest in the tactics of Cooper’s approach, especially how Leicester pressed the opposition, but they just didn’t believe in his approach as much as they had Maresca’s. This raises questions about how it was decided Cooper was the best fit for the job at the end of the summer’s hiring process.
There was no lack of effort from the players, as their ability to fight back in games, most notably when they came from two goals down at half-time to win 3-2 away against Southampton, showed, but there was still scepticism among some of them about their game plan in the Premier League.
Still, both the squad and Cooper expected him to be given more time, but time was the issue for the club.
It wasn’t just players that Cooper struggled to connect with at Leicester, but the supporters and even some staff, too.
A section of the fanbase, still angry and demanding some accountability for Leicester’s previous decline that brought relegation at the end of the 2022-23 season, were not happy with the appointment. Even after the only home league win under Cooper, against Bournemouth on October 5, the manager, his staff and players were surprised that the stands emptied so quickly as they conducted their lap of honour.
He was also shocked by the reaction of the away supporters to his team’s performance in a Carabao Cup at fourth-tier Walsall a couple of weeks earlier, where they sang “Cooper, sort it out”, “Premier League?, we’re having a laugh”, and “This is embarrassing” as the match ended goalless before Leicester won on penalties.
Some fans, who also did not completely buy into Maresca’s style of play, struggled to see what the identity of the team was meant to be under Cooper and what the direction of travel was, despite the transitional period Leicester were in.
Cooper was criticised by fans during the Carabao Cup game at Walsall in September (Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Having felt they waited too long to make a managerial change in that relegation season two years ago, the club decided they were not going to make the same perceived mistake again. Brendan Rodgers, the man in charge then, had been backed like no one before at Leicester and they considered him an elite manager. He had delivered, most notably winning the club’s first FA Cup, but it was obvious during that 2022-23 campaign that there was only one direction of travel.
While Leicester had picked up 10 points from their first 10 games this season, no disgrace for a newly promoted side, the disconnect between manager, fans and players was evident.
There was also a growing concern at board level at Cooper’s tendency to challenge Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and the officiating of Leicester’s games, compounded by his post-match comments following the loss to Chelsea on Saturday when he was convinced his team should have had a second-half penalty for Wesley Fofana’s challenge on Stephy Mavididi.
Having won their controversial PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) case against the Premier League relating to the 2022-23 season in September, Leicester did not want to rub too many of the authorities up the wrong way and Cooper was asked to tone his bullishness down — there might be bigger battles to fight later on.
This was the overriding reason, according to sources at the club, who spoke anonymously to protect relationships, that Leicester have decided to act now, because of the incredible importance of retaining their Premier League status.
Cooper may not have been first choice to replace Maresca when Leicester’s Championship-winning manager left to join Chelsea a year into what was meant to be a long-term project, but everyone wanted the appointment to work.
Khun Top had run out of patience waiting for No 1 target Graham Potter, the former Brighton and Chelsea boss who they had long admired and tried to recruit previously, to commit. Others had also stalled at the chance to take over the task of re-establishing Leicester in the Premier League, particularly because of the looming prospect of a points deduction for a predicted PSR breach, a spectre that also hampered their efforts to strengthen the squad, meaning they missed out on main targets and recruited late in this summer’s window.
Cooper met with the club on two occasions to discuss the role and his enthusiasm for the challenge convinced them he would be a good fit. Their commitment also led to them bringing in his backroom staff at some cost — especially a substantial buyout clause for chief analyst Steve Rands from Cooper’s previous employers, their East Midlands neighbours Nottingham Forest. Rands and assistant Alan Tate have now left the club with Cooper.
They also backed him with a gross spend close to £80million ($100m at the current exchange rate) — nearly £50m net after the sale of midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, their player of the year for last season, to Chelsea.
Chelsea’s Dewsbury-Hall came on against Leicester, who he starred for last season (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Cooper approached his new gig with gusto. After being sacked by Forest amid Premier League relegation worries last December, which hit him hard, he took time away from the game to reevaluate his career, spending time on managerial philosophy courses and looking at data on where he stood among the game’s modern coaches. He felt ready to return to the touchline when Leicester gave him the opportunity.
His appointment surprised many, including Leicester’s players, who had expected someone with a similar approach to Maresca to be brought in.
It was the same with many of the supporters, who still saw Leicester as the club that had been challenging for European qualification three years running under Rodgers before that disastrous relegation campaign and considered them still an attractive proposition for a high-profile manager, however realistic that view actually was.
Cooper was himself taken aback at the reaction of some Leicester fans to his connection to their local rivals Forest.
The question was still lingering: was Cooper, though a good coach with recent experience of keeping a promoted team in the Premier League, the right fit for this particular club?
In truth, it was a marriage that seemed doomed to fail from the outset.
Leicester’s promotion last season, when the EFL — the league made up of the three divisions below the Premier League — was convinced they were breaching PSR and tried several times to impose sanctions, has left a bitter legacy. Their success in their legal case has compounded that feeling and brought even greater determination from both the Premier League and EFL to ensure Leicester conform to the game’s financial regulations, however badly and ambiguously they are written.
Relegation straight back to the Championship next May would be a disaster for Leicester, with the EFL waiting to impose sanctions such as a business plan and points deductions for any breaches.
The next step will be crucial.
With the Potter ship seemingly having sailed, there are admirers of Ruud van Nistlerooy internally at King Power Stadium following his recent stint in interim charge at Manchester United and previous time as manager of Eindhoven-based Dutch side PSV. David Moyes is available after leaving West Ham at the end of last season, but seems an unlikely appointment.
Potter has been of long-term interest to Leicester (Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)
But with the pressure of Leicester’s situation, who would want to take the challenge?
When the club sacked Rodgers in early April 2023, they found many of the targets they approached about taking over were not interested in the potential of sullying their CVs with Leicester’s looming relegation. They ended up appointing former Brentford and Aston Villa manager Dean Smith as a short-term fix more than a week later after exhausting other avenues, leaving him with little time to try to turn things around.
The club also have to file their accounts for the 2023-24 season by December 31, with the EFL predicting they will have breached financial rules.
Leicester have not moved far from the position they were in during the summer, when a lengthy recruitment process led to them deciding that Cooper was the man they needed.
They cannot afford to make the same mistake again.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Read the full article here