Steve Cooper Sacked by Leicester City with the Foxes 16th in the Premier League

On Sunday, Leicester City sacked their boss Steve Cooper after just 15 games in charge. A mere 12 Premier League matches into the season and the board had seen enough, dismissing the former Nottingham Forest man following the club’s 2-1 defeat at home against Chelsea, the London side managed by the man who guided the Foxes back into the PL and who was replaced by Cooper.

Cooper became the second top-flight boss to be dismissed this season, with Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag getting the chop at the end of October. We would expect several more to unwillingly follow in the footsteps of those two before the 2024/25 campaign is over. Cooper himself will certainly feel that he was not given long enough at the Foxes, although many fans and some experts will feel it was the correct decision.

If Ten Hag’s sacking was generally considered overdue, after 128 games in charge and hundreds of millions wasted on players such as Antony, Casemiro and others, it is hard to argue that Cooper was given a fair crack of the whip. His record was poor but the club were placed in 16th in the PL, whilst the other two newly promoted sides were languishing in the bottom three.

Cooper’s Record at Leicester

For any side coming up from the Championship, Premier League survival is the only real aim. It is not impossible for teams to impress on their debut season and many show plenty of ambition but in reality, 17th spot is a prize almost all would accept if offered. And Leicester were, with almost a third of the season gone, on target for that. In 16th place, they were out of the bottom three, albeit by just a single point.

The Foxes had won two of their 12 league fixtures, had collected four more points through draws, and had lost half of their games. Their goal difference was negative eight, with only fellow top-flight new boys Ipswich (-10) and Southampton (-15) worse off. As one might expect, they had problems at both ends of the pitch, although on balance, with 15 goals scored and 23 conceded, it was more at the back where their problems under Cooper lay.

His overall record at Leicester, including three EFL Cup games, can be seen below:

In the League Cup, the Foxes beat Tranmere 4-0, drew 0-0 with Walsall before sneaking through on penalties, and then were hammered by Man United. At the end of October they lost 5-2 at Old Trafford and that result played a part in Cooper’s dismissal.

By the time the axe fell the Foxes were on a five-game winless run. That included that cup defeat, plus another three-goal loss away at Man United in the league. Their poor sequence began with a damaging 3-1 home loss to Cooper’s former club and Leicester’s East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest. Next came the EFL Cup match with United, a 1-1 draw with Ipswich, their second loss to the Red Devils and then, finally, the home loss to Chelsea.

Clearly a win percentage of 20% is very poor and extrapolated out over a 38-game Premier League campaign would yield eight wins at best (7.6). More than likely, barring a very anomalous PL season, or the Foxes picking up an unusually high number of draws, that would lead to relegation. On that basis it is, in a sense, easy to see why the Leicester board acted when they did. But were they too hasty?

Why did Leicester Pull the Trigger?

The Foxes have often been considered a well-run club over the last 15 years, though more recently there have been questions. The club were relegated from the top tier of English football after the 2022/23 campaign and were charged by the PL in March 2024 in relation to financial fair play rules.

In addition they seem to have become less and less patient with managers, although in truth this may have been the way they have operated all along when the man in charge hasn’t met their expectations. Going back to Claudio Ranieri, the Italian was dismissed early in 2017 just months after their miraculous title win in 2015/16.

So perhaps they are well run in terms of knowing when to switch managers, and they have made the right call with Cooper. In these situations it is impossible to know whether the owners have made the right call as, whether the Foxes go down or stay up, we will never know what would have happened had they stuck with the former boss. Pundit Chris Sutton said he couldn’t believe the decision, adding that it was “really harsh”.

That said, there are reasons why Leicester made the call they did that go beyond the bare stats of the club being 16th and just a point above the drop zone. First, unlike the managers at Ipswich and Southampton, he did not have credit in the bank (with the fans or owners) from earning promotion last season. In fact, with many fans, he was metaphorically in debt, given his former role as Nottingham Forest boss.

On top of that, his style of play was somewhat different to that employed by Maresca, with less emphasis on possession and control. The fans had seen their team go from being top dogs in the Championship to averaging just 46.5% possession and whilst a drop would be expected, moving up in class, it should be noted that Southampton boast 55.2% average possession to date in this season’s top flight.

It has also been reported that the players were struggling to adapt to the demands of their new boss. Maresca was very popular with the squad and Cooper came in and tried to change the style and culture very quickly, with rumours of unrest.

For all these reasons, and the simple fear of another relegation, Leicester acted swiftly. On the plus side, it gives the new boss plenty of time to have an impact. However, who will they appoint?

What Next?

At the time of writing Ruud van Nistelrooy is the clear favourite to be appointed Leicester boss. The Dutchman is priced at just 4/7 and if those odds are to be believed he could be installed by the time you read this. However, odds change quickly in this market and former Foxes target Graham Potter (10/1) or David Moyes (12/1) could offer better value.