Leicester are at the moment searching for a new manager. Ruud van Nistelrooy was sacked last week. Discussions among fans are what direction the club will take with their next appointment.
Over the years, appointments of new managers have mostly been based on results from previous jobs. Other criterias such as style of play, age, experience etc, etc, looks less important.
We have gone back to the 60’s to try to see what type of patterns have been used. We have looked at age, profile of play and background.
What we have found is basically a result-driven approach for every appointment. Steve Cooper made his name in Premier League being able to keep Forest up. Other facts were more or less overlooked with this as the main reason for this appointment. Ruud van Nistelrooy was evaluated for his brief and successful tenure at PSV. His good interim period at Man Utd also factored. Some might say his style of play and background as a player had a say. However, we believe the results achieved were the main reason for appointing him.
Going back, those appointing managers at this football club have little or no background from the playing and coaching side themselves. When you change management, as Leicester often have done, without thinking much about the players you have in your squad. That becomes very evident when the group of players in the squad are totally different from what a new manager would like to do. This has over the years been a major problem. Over time, it has made Leicester a very unstable environment. We have seen fatal mistakes occur. These mistakes have seen the club move from top to bottom in a season, ending in relegations and heavy financial struggles.
From 1958 to 1968, Matt Gillies had a very successful time as manager of Leicester. He built a team of strong and hardworking players. Gillies, had previously played for Leicester. When taking over he had no previous manager experience. He was 37 years of age when appointed.
Frank O’Farrell was the next man in after Gillies. He came from lower league management, 41 years of age, having a previous life at clubs such as Weymouth and Torquay. O’Farrell had to see relegation in his first season. However, he was given time to build his own team. He based much of it on Gillies’ foundations and local youth talent. He used two seasons to get Leicester back up. He was poached by Manchester United and left Leicester on the 1st July 1971. He was Irish and had a former life in top flight football with West Ham as one of his clubs.
When searching for the next manager, Leicester decided to bring in Jimmy Bloomfield. He had a solid player background, 37 years of age. He became very influential and established Leicester as one of the most entertaining teams in English football. Bloomfield had previously been a manager at Leyton Orient, having good results and a promotion to build on. He executed a number of fantastic transfer deals. He balanced everything perfectly when selling assets such as David Nish and Peter Shilton for English record transfer fees. He did shrewd business to find replacements. Frank Worthington, Keith Weller, Steve Kember, Jon Sammels, Alan Birchenall, Jeff Blockley, Steve Earle, and Chris Garland were among his signings. They are all fondly remembered for their time at Leicester.
It was very surprising and unexpected when Jimmy Bloomfield parted company with Leicester after a solid 1976/77 season. They had just finished 11th in the 1st division. The squad was also nicely balanced and had quality players to build on. Frank McLintock was appointed manager. He had a very solid player background from Leicester, Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers, but no previous manager experience. The group he inherited from Bloomfield was possibly not the easiest to controll. It all became a total disaster. Relegation followed after horrendous moves in the transfer market and just a mess out of controll. McLintock was 37 years of age when getting the job. We never found out what ideas the former club legend had in his mind. Everything ended very badly. It was a bit like what we did see with Ruud van Nistelrooy this season. Using players randomly with no clear vision or plan. Frank McLintock used more than 30 players in league games during that fatal season.
We are not going to list up all Leicester managers from those early days and up to our time. Younger fans with no focus on history will always look at their own memory to make judgement. When watching and listen to different fan channels and their updates. They often bring their stories and thoughts into a perspective that becomes a bit inaccurate. Managers are not getting younger and younger, no one are as young as Steve Coppell was when he took over Crystal Palace in 1984. He was 28 years of age when appointed.
Looking at candidates being mentioned as potential new Leicester manager, Danny Rohl is a fresh face and one young man talked up as a potential new manager at Leicester. Sean Dyche, Lee Carsley and Gary O’Neil are other names mentioned. Rohl will not arrive alone. He may bring Chris Powell (55) and Henrik Pedersen (47) with him. They are two very experienced men in football.
Sheffield Wednesday make decision over their next manager if Danny Rohl takes over at Leicester – but face competition from Premier League club https://t.co/eIZv2IJJta
— Mail Sport (@MailSport) June 27, 2025
Will Still and Fabian Hurzeler are two young promising managers. They are in charge of Southampton and Brighton, both 32 years of age. Young managers are certainly not anything new in football. When Roy Hodgson won his first league title in football management. He was 29 years old. He achieved this by winning the Swedish league with Halmstad back in 1976.
Kenny Dalglish, Bryan Robson, John Toshack, Glenn Hoddle, Gianluca Vialli, and Ruud Gullit are some former greats. They continued playing while also in management. They all brought great success to their teams. They capitalized on their achievements in this combined role and continued their manager careers for a very long time.
Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Carlo Ancelotti and Claudio Ranieri are great examples of more experienced and mature managers. They have done well coming to a certain age. They have stayed much up to date with modern thinking. Additionally, they learned their trade along the way. All of them came into management at a very early age. It was just after retirement as players, being in their 30’s.
Some fans complicate football and think the game is going in a totally new direction. Having a clear vision on the opponent analysing everything. Don Revie did this back in the 60’s and 70’s. He gave his Leeds players notes on the opponent. Other managers had a different focus and view. These assumptions from young fans are not really correct and just taken out of the blue.
Claudio Ranieri is the oldest man appointed manager at Leicester in their history. He was 64 years of age. The youngest was the founder himself, Frank Gardner. He was 17 years of age when he started the playing activity.
You often need to evaluate the appointed manager. It’s also important to consider the type of people he brings with him as part of his staff. Again focusing on Will Still and Fabian Hurzeler. Both talked up as young and fresh, but they are in no way having a lot of babies around them. Assisting them, you find people of different age and qualifications.
Some parts of the fanbase criticized Ruud van Nistelrooy. They focused on him not having his own coaching staff. Looking at the appointments of Will Still at Southampton,. His current coaching staff at Southampton is a mixed bag of different people. Paul Trollope is his assistant manager. Trollope is 53 years old, very experienced and previously having a life in management at Bristol Rovers and Cardiff. He has also had assistant managers roles at Luton, Forest and Brighton among others. Adam Lallana, who recently announced his retirement from playing, will continue as First Team Coach alongside Carl Martin, as the pair remain in their roles from last season. New to the club is Rubén Martínez, who joins as Goalkeeping Coach. The 48-year-old represented Barcelona’s B team in his playing days and later worked alongside Tito Vilanova as a coach. To our knowledge, none of them have a previous past in relation with Will Still.
You can of course critisize Leicester and their decision makers, but if doing so, please have your documentation in hand. It will be an interesting summer, and of course hopes are high also for next season.
To sum this up, we can say Leicester manager appointments are basically result driven. The struggle to see a solid and clear pattern has not just been so under Thai ownership. Leicester have often shifted from appointment to appointment. It has been difficult to maintain a clear line in philosophy of play, recruitment, and transfer activity. Establishing financial stability has also been very challenging, making those drastic shifts in style of management.
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