Leicester City have embarked on the search for their next manager, and it will be one of the most important appointments of the club’s modern history.
The sacking of Steve Cooper on Sunday after just 12 Premier League games in charge may have shocked many people, especially as Leicester aren’t in the relegation places. But in the eyes of the club’s hierarchy, the threat of an instant return to the Championship is real (Leicester are one point above the bottom three) and they did not see the progress they expected on the pitch.
Such immediate action was taken because of what is at stake this season. It is imperative that Leicester stay up. A second relegation in the space of two years could have catastrophic effects on the club’s immediate future.
Profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) have hung like a dark cloud over the East Midlands side for the past three seasons and, despite their legal success in September in fighting a Premier League charge for a breach during their disastrous 2022-23 relegation campaign, the battle is not over.
That victory frustrated the Premier League, which views the independent appeals board’s decision to uphold Leicester’s appeal — on the grounds they had been relegated so were no longer a Premier League club at the time of their accounts for 2022-23 being filed — as a blow to its effectiveness in enforcing PSR and ensuring fairness between member clubs.
Clubs are only permitted losses of £105million ($132m) over a three-year rolling cycle, with the losses reduced by £22m for every season spent in the second-tier Championship.
The Premier League has an ally in the English Football League (EFL) — made up of the three divisions in the English game below the top flight.
The EFL attempted to impose sporting sanctions in the form of a business plan, which would have forced Leicester to cut their budget and sell players, for a suspected breach last season. In March, Leicester started legal proceedings against the EFL and Premier League as the former attempted to impose a points deduction for the alleged breach in 2022-23 on them during last season.
With Leicester having to file their accounts for 2023-24 to the Premier League by the end of the calendar year under the new Standard Directions, which prescribe a timeline within which PSR cases should be heard, there could be more issues to address, especially as the EFL seemed so convinced a breach was likely.
The EFL imposed a registration embargo on Leicester after the club filed their PSR calculation for the 2023-24 season in March, but that was lifted after they won promotion back to the Premier League.
Going back down in May might lead to the EFL imposing severe sanctions on Leicester, which could undermine their ability to launch another successful promotion bid and could potentially anchor the club in the Championship (or worse) for several seasons, denying them the revenue that comes with Premier League participation.
The stakes, therefore, could not be higher. But the PSR situation has had other ramifications.
While it was clear the club were cutting back on spending towards the end of the Brendan Rodgers era in April 2023 because of PSR concerns, the seriousness of that situation only really emerged during last season, when Rodgers had been replaced as manager by Enzo Maresca.
When Maresca left in the summer, to take the Chelsea job, there was a genuine threat of a points deduction this season, which would have made the club’s battle to re-establish themselves in the Premier League even tougher. The odds were already against the promoted sides in terms of top-flight survival, without the added difficulty of being docked points for breaching financial rules.
The issue was a concern for potential successors to Maresca, who feared it would make their task of stabilising Leicester back in the Premier League even harder and, as a result, made the job less attractive. Steve Cooper, who had kept Nottingham Forest in the Premier League in 2022-23, the season after their promotion, was chosen because he still wanted to take on the challenge.
Leicester’s board now believe the Welshman was the wrong fit, but they face the same issues in the recruitment of his successor as they did in the summer while seeking Maresca’s.
The club did not have a replacement lined up when Cooper was told, by director of football Jon Rudkin, following Saturday’s home defeat against Chelsea that his tenure would be so short-lived.
They will also have been aware of the financial implications of the decision to make this change. When Rodgers, who was the highest-paid manager in the club’s history, was eventually sacked with two years left on his contract, the total cost of his severance and that of his staff contributed to losses of £89.7million.
Cooper will not have been getting paid as much as Rodgers was, as Leicester adjusted their budgets following that 2022-23 season, but this firing is still an unplanned expenditure.
Ultimately, finding the right candidate is of paramount importance but Leicester would prefer to avoid protracted negotiations with a club and paying compensation to prise a candidate away from their current job, as it will add to the cost of ditching Cooper and also to the lingering PSR concerns for this season.
An unattached candidate who is immediately available and will not come at a huge financial cost will be preferred as the club continue to try to manage the financial impact of that relegation two seasons ago.
Ex-Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter, who Leicester have tried to entice twice before, and former Everton, Manchester United and West Ham boss David Moyes, have the credentials but are extremely unlikely to be in the running. Both are clubless so could begin right away but they would not be cheap to employ.
A young, talented coach nearer the start of their career, who is fully committed but will not demand huge wages, may be the route Leicester prefer. Ruud van Nistelrooy, for example, fits that criteria following his departure from Manchester United.
As their chief executive Susan Whelan said when the relegation season’s accounts were published: “The consequences of which (relegation) will be felt for some time.”
The need for Leicester to now bring in the right manager, without tipping themselves over the financial edge with PSR, is crucial.
But avoiding a second relegation in three seasons is absolutely critical.
(Top photo: Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)
