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 press 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 weeks 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 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 decision from the club hierarchy to remove Cooper 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 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 the Danish capital 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 their manager’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, 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.
Many of the players, especially the ones who had embraced and profited the most from Maresca’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 they 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 club at the end of the 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 2-0 behind to win 3-2 at Southampton, showed, but there was still scepticism among some players about their game plan in the Premier League.
Still, the players 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, but the fanbase and even some staff at the club, too.
A section of the fanbase, still angry and demanding some accountability for Leicester’s previous decline, were not happy with the appointment. Even after their only home win under Cooper, against Bournemouth, the manager, his staff and players were surprised that the stands of King Power Stadium emptied so quickly as they conducted their lap of honour.
Cooper was also shocked by the reaction of the away supporters to his team’s performance in the Carabao Cup at Walsall earlier in the season, when they sang “Cooper, sort it out”, “Premier League, we’re having a laugh”, and “This is embarrassing”.
Some fans, who also did not completely buy into Maresca’s style of play, struggled to see what the identity of the team was under Cooper and what the direction of travel was, despite the transitional period the club was in.
Having felt they waited too long to make a change in 2022-23, the club decided they were not going to make the same perceived mistake again. Brendan Rodgers had been backed by the club like no one before and they considered him an elite manager. He had delivered, most notably the club’s first FA Cup victory, but it was obvious during the relegation season that there was only one direction of travel.
While the team had picked up 10 points in their first 10 games, which was no disgrace for a newly promoted side, the disconnect was evident between manager, fans and players.
There was also a growing concern at board level at Cooper’s tendency to challenge Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and the officiating, compounded by his post-match comments following the Chelsea game when he was convinced Leicester should have had a penalty for Wesley Fofana’s second-half challenge on Stephy Mavididi.
Having won their controversial PSR case for the 2022-23 season against the Premier League, 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 could 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 decided to act now, because of the incredible importance of remaining in the Premier League.
Cooper may not have been Leicester’s No 1 choice to replace Maresca when their Championship-winning manager left to join Chelsea one year into a long-term project, but everyone wanted it to work. The club’s chairman, ‘Khun Top’, had run out of patience waiting for first choice Graham Potter, 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 profit and sustainability breach, a spectre that also hampered their efforts to strengthen the squad, meaning they missed out on main targets and recruited late in the 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 former club 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, a net of nearly £50million after the sale of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, last season’s player of the year, to Chelsea.
Cooper also approached the appointment with gusto. After being sacked by Forest, 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 in the game’s modern coaches. He was ready to return when Leicester gave him the green light.
His appointment surprised many, including the players, who had expected someone with a similar approach to Maresca to be brought in.
It was a surprise to many supporters, who still saw Leicester as the club that had been challenging for European qualification three years running under Rodgers before their disastrous relegation campaign and thought the club was still an attractive proposition for a high-profile manager, however realistic that actually was.
Cooper himself was surprised when he took over at the reaction of some Leicester fans to his connection to their east Midlands rivals Forest.
The question was still lingering: was Cooper, a good coach with experience of keeping a newly 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.
Their promotion last season, when the EFL were 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 the Premier League and EFL to ensure Leicester conform to regulations, however badly and ambiguously they are written.
Relegation would be a disaster for Leicester, with the EFL waiting to impose such sanctions as a business plan and points deductions for any breaches.
The next step will be crucial. The Potter ship may have sailed, although Leicester have held a long-term interest in him, but there are also admirers of Ruud van Nistlerooy internally at King Power Stadium, and while David Moyes is available, he seems an unlikely appointment.
But with the pressure of Leicester’s situation, who would want to take the challenge?
When the club sacked Rodgers, they found many of the targets they approached were not interested in the potential of sullying their CVs with relegation. They ended up appointing Dean Smith as a short-term fix after exhausting other avenues. Smith had little time to turn Leicester around. Leicester also have to file their accounts for the 2023-24 season by December 31, with the EFL predicting they will have breached.
Leicester have not moved far from the position they were in last summer when an exhaustive process led to them deciding Cooper was the right man.
They cannot afford to make the same mistake again.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
