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New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Inside Ruud van Nistelrooy's Leicester demise: A damaging tenure for club and manager
As Newcastle United became the third team in just eight games to score inside the first two minutes against Leicester City, the live television camera turned to manager Ruud van Nistelrooy on the touchline. 'For f***k's sake,' he vented in frustration. Even novice lip readers were aware of his feelings and every Leicester fan shared his sentiment as their team slid in embarrassing fashion towards a second relegation in three years — and the Dutchman was powerless to stop it. Advertisement Leicester's appointment of Van Nistelrooy proved disastrous, not only for the club but for him. In November, the former Manchester United striker was handed the reins to replace Steve Cooper, who had been sacked after just 12 games in charge. There were questions over Cooper's appointment and his swift removal, but the abject failure of Van Nistelrooy's tenure places more criticism at the door of the club hierarchy. Van Nistelrooy knew he was on thin ice but hoped Leicester would realise he had spent five months on a steep learning curve and had knowledge of what was required to rebuild the club next season. But after weeks of silence, a decision to bring his spell in charge at the King Power Stadium to an end has been made. Here The Athletic looks at the Dutchman's disastrous tenure. All sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. Van Nistelrooy had graduated from being one of the best strikers in Europe to quietly doing his coaching apprenticeship in the youth ranks of one of his former clubs, PSV Eindhoven. He built an impressive reputation as a coach, winning two trophies at PSV before working under Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford and stepping up in a brief four-game tenure as interim manager. However, after deciding to take on the challenge of attempting to keep Leicester in the Premier League, his reputation as a coach has been left severely damaged. His record since taking over from Cooper at the end of November last year is one of the worst in the club's history and Leicester have set unwanted Premier League records. Cooper was sacked after a five-game winless run but Leicester were two points above the relegation zone with 10 points at the time. Leicester took that decision just five months after appointing Cooper partly because they felt the team was on the wrong course and in need of new direction. Under Van Nistelrooy, the direction of travel was even worse. It was hoped Van Nistelrooy's aura as a hugely respected and successful former player would lift a squad struggling to cope with the Premier League after an unsettled pre-season and difficult start to the campaign. According to sources close to the squad, the Leicester players initially were impressed a former player of his stature was coming in rather than a coach with no playing background, like Cooper. Advertisement Van Nistelrooy seemed to have had that impact at Old Trafford. Following Ten Hag's exit in October, he won three of his games as interim head coach, including two matches against Leicester, but what impressed the hierarchy at the King Power was the apparent bond he had with the players, especially Casemiro, who ran to celebrate one of his goals with Van Nistelrooy on the touchline. It was hoped Van Nistelrooy would set new, high standards and generate a similar response from the Leicester players. They had struggled to connect with Cooper's more relaxed methods after their Championship-winning season under Enzo Maresca, a close friend of Van Nistelrooy from their time as team-mates at Malaga and a coach with similar philosophies. Unlike Maresca, Van Nistelrooy didn't have a pre-season to work with his players but, more concerningly, he arrived without any backroom staff. He was working with the team that remained after Cooper, his assistant Alan Tate and chief analyst Steve Rands had departed. The remainder of Cooper's coaching team, Ben Dawson and Danny Alcock, did not leave until after a 4-0 home defeat to Brentford at the end of February, nearly three months after Van Nistelrooy's arrival. The Dutchman threw himself into the role, taking every training session and video analysis session until Jelle ten Rouwelaar became his first appointment a week after he arrived, after some delays surrounding his work permit. Van Nistelrooy had worked with Ten Rouwelaar, who became a first-team coach at Leicester, at United, but his next appointment, former Rochdale manager and Manchester City Under-21 coach Brian Barry-Murphy, was new to him and to the players. Van Nistelrooy completed his backroom team with former Leicester midfielder Andy King promoted from coaching the under-18s. Advertisement From the start, high standards were a priority. Van Nistelrooy had shown dedication and application to become a gifted goalscorer and win domestic titles with PSV, United and Real Madrid, finishing as the Champions League's top scorer three times. He tried to instil the same level of professionalism and self-sacrifice in his players. He had a structured training regime based around the two key elements of his coaching philosophy: possession and pressing. Sources close to several players said they were impressed with his attention to detail. Cooper had been a more informal leader, asking the players not to call him 'boss' or 'gaffer', but they had preferred the more defined leadership of Maresca and Van Nistelrooy that commanded more reverence. Van Nistelrooy also forged a good relationship with Jamie Vardy through a mutual respect as successful Premier League strikers. It was Van Nistelrooy's record for scoring in consecutive Premier League games that Vardy broke during Leicester's title-winning 2015-16 season. Vardy started all but two of the games under Van Nistelrooy, despite turning 38 in January. Like the majority of the squad, Vardy liked and respected Van Nistelrooy. Vardy has now left the club after his contract expired, but not before he had described the campaign as a 'a s** show'. His stature brought respect from the players but Van Nistelrooy quickly began to find that while they could carry out his instructions on the training pitch at Seagrave, it was becoming a different matter under the pressure of matchdays. After four points from his first two games, there was a startling deterioration. Save for a 6-2 drubbing of Queens Park Rangers and then a much-needed away win at Tottenham Hotspur, Van Nistelrooy's Leicester sank fast as confidence and belief in what they were being asked to do eroded. Tensions started to emerge, with Van Nistelrooy criticising Facundo Buonanotte's selection of moulded studs in one game. He also made three players who commuted long distances to Seagrave — Conor Coady, from Liverpool, and Harry Winks and Jannik Vestergaard from the London area — aware he wanted them to avoid tiring journeys by staying over at the hotel at Seagrave when a morning training session followed an afternoon session the day before. Advertisement Winks, who initially moved to Nottinghamshire when he signed but moved back to London to be near family, became a father in mid-March and expressed his desire to support his partner. While Van Nistelrooy had sympathy for his midfielder's situation, he demanded players put their preparation first. Winks did not feature in another squad under Van Nistelrooy. In March, the Dutchman also said he had 'dealt with' an incident when Vestergaard had, with the club's permission, brought his dog to training because he had no one to look after it that day. Van Nistelrooy began to trust a smaller section of his squad. The home defeat to Newcastle in April was the fourth consecutive defeat in which he named the same starting line-up. He returned to his preferred system at Brighton and Hove Albion afterwards and turned more towards younger players in the final games of his tenure, with one eye on the next campaign. Despite stating in his first press conference he was not wedded to one system of play, he stuck stubbornly to the same system he utilised at PSV, a 4-2-3-1 with a high full-back pushing on, one winger and one wide player coming in to play as a second No 10 — a system not dissimilar to Cooper's. It wasn't until the away trip to Chelsea at the start of March that he changed to a back five. Some players felt a change of approach should have come earlier, although the continued run of defeats proved that the problem for Van Nistelrooy was not his chosen system but the aptitude of the players at his disposal — specifically the athleticism and fitness of the squad to play an intense, pressing style. Initially, Van Nistelrooy favoured the more experienced front three of Vardy, Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid because they were better at understanding how he wanted them to press from the front, but the new signings hardly featured towards the end as Van Nistelrooy changed tack. Advertisement Only attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss from the £80million spent in the summer by Cooper appeared consistently under Van Nistelrooy. Oliver Skipp, signed from Tottenham Hotspur for £20million, started just two games under Van Nistelrooy, while £15million defender Caleb Okoli hardly featured and loanee Buonanotte was used predominantly as a substitute. Odsonne Edouard, whose arrival on loan from Crystal Palace took up the other Premier League loan spot, featured in just one squad, as an unused substitute. Both Cooper and Van Nistelrooy said Edouard's exclusion was to do with numbers — they only used one striker and that was Vardy, but even when Van Nistelrooy went to two frontmen, with Patson Daka partnering Vardy, Edouard was not even on the bench. Such a waste of money hampered Van Nistelrooy, who had said he was given assurances when discussing the position with Leicester that there would be funds available. When the January transfer window came around, that assurance faded, with the club's ongoing concerns over profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) overriding any pledges. Van Nistelrooy wanted more attacking options, especially a winger, with Abdul Fatawu ruled out for the season with an ACL injury, and a central defender to help ease defensive issues, as well as a right-back. He got a full-back, Woyo Coulibaly from Parma, but he made only five appearances and just one start, and he was substituted at half-time of that game —February's home defeat to Brentford. As Van Nistelrooy seemed to lose confidence in his players, they seemed to lose confidence in what they were being asked to do. When they conceded an early goal, all belief and fight evaporated. Van Nistelrooy is usually calm and measured, but he could also express anger when required. He would use the tactic sparingly but there was typically little response. Losing and costly individual errors became a cycle Van Nistelrooy could not break as the season spiralled out of control. Advertisement He had the air of a defeated, broken man after the Newcastle loss, but after relegation, he stressed his desire to carry on and rebuild Leicester in the Championship, asking for clarity from the club's senior management so the planning could start. '(I am) still hoping to find out,' Van Nistelrooy said before the home game with Southampton on May 3. 'The quicker the better in the best interest of the club.' The club has now made that decision. It is hypothetical to say Cooper would have kept Leicester in the Premier League if he hadn't been replaced by Van Nistelrooy, but there is also no escaping Leicester's woeful record under Van Nistelrooy. The failure of the club's recruitment policy was also one of the biggest contributing factors to the relegation. The decision to remove Van Nistelrooy could have come sooner but the financial consequences of sacking two managers and their staff in one season was not insignificant in regards to Leicester's issues with PSR. Not many managers survive losing as many games as Van Nistelrooy, especially when losing nine consecutive home games without scoring a single goal. Despite this record, the fans' anger was directed more towards the club's board than Van Nistelrooy. When the axe fell post-relegation, it was almost merciful, but his reputation as a coach has been severely damaged. As for Leicester, the ramifications of another relegation could last a lot longer. The next manager will not only have to oversee a complete squad rebuild — which will likely be restricted by financial pressures — he must build bridges with a fanbase that has become increasingly disconnected from the club. Whoever that may be, the Leicester City job now requires a Herculean effort.
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Leicester part ways with Ruud van Nistelrooy after Premier League relegation
Ruud van Nistelrooy has left his position as Leicester City manager by mutual agreement. Leicester's relegation from the Premier League after just one season back was confirmed in April with five rounds of matches remaining. Van Nistelrooy, 48, only replaced Steve Cooper in November, signing a contract until 2027. Advertisement However, the Dutchman won just four of his 24 Premier League matches in charge, though two of those — the 2-0 wins over also-relegated Ipswich Town and Southampton — came after relegation had already been confirmed. Van Nistelrooy's last game in charge was the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth on the season's final day. Van Nistelrooy said: 'I would like to personally thank the Leicester City players, coaches, academy and all the staff I have worked with for their professionalism and dedication during my time at the club and to thank the fans for their support, and take this opportunity to wish the club well for the future.' Leicester were 16th in the table when Van Nistelrooy took charge and he guided them to a 3-1 victory over West Ham United in his first game. But Leicester won just three times more in the Premier League under the former Manchester United striker — the 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in January the other triumph — and fell into the drop zone. They also beat Queens Park Rangers 6-2 in the FA Cup third round before losing 2-1 against Manchester United in the fourth round. Between December and April, Van Nistelrooy's side also endured a run of losing nine successive Premier League home matches without finding the net. Van Nistelrooy arrived at Leicester shortly after taking interim charge of Manchester United for four games following Erik ten Hag's sacking, having previously taken on a first-team coaching role at the start of the season. He won three of those four matches — two of those against Cooper's Leicester — and drew the other 1-1 at home against Chelsea. The Leicester position marked Van Nistelrooy's first permanent managerial job since leaving PSV Eindhoven at the end of 2022-23. Cooper, meanwhile, was sacked in November after just 12 Premier League games in charge, having replaced Enzo Maresca in the summer. Graham Potter and David Moyes, who have since taken up positions at West Ham and Everton respectively, were ruled out before the club moved for Van Nistelrooy. The former striker previously held talks with Burnley over replacing Vincent Kompany last summer before he joined Ten Hag's coaching staff at United. He was not kept on by Ruben Amorim.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
🚨 Middlesbrough announce new head coach
Middlesbrough have confirmed the appointment of Rob Edwards as the club's new head coach on a three-year deal. The 42-year-old replaces Michael Carrick in the Riverside hot seat, having reportedly beaten off competition from Steve Cooper and Danny Röhl. Advertisement Edwards was most recently was in charge of Luton, who he brought up to the top flight for the first time in 32 years in the 2022/23 season. An immediate return to the Championship came before he was sacked with the club on their way to a second relegation in a row. Middlesbrough will be hoping Edwards can repeat the promotion trick as they aim to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2017. 📸 Gareth Copley - 2022 Getty Images
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Revealed: 'Why Ruud van Nistelrooy is STILL at Leicester' despite club deciding to sack him after hapless relegation campaign
Leicester City 's decision to keep Ruud van Nistelrooy in charge for now, despite their relegation from the Premier League, has finally been explained. The Dutchman oversaw a disastrous run of results having replaced Steve Cooper last November, meaning the Foxes will play in the Championship next season. Last month, Mailsport the former Manchester United striker will depart after less than a year in charge of the club. However, weeks after Leicester's final game of the season, van Nistelrooy's exit has still not officially been confirmed. According to The Sun, the 48-year-old is still in the job because the club is waiting to enter its next financial accounting period — a move that would reduce the cost of terminating his contract. Speaking last month, Van Nistelrooy was hopeful of resolving his future at the club as soon as possible. He said: '(I am) still hoping to find out. The quicker the better, in the best interest of the club. We're all hoping to find out soon. 'There's 70 people working at the training ground who want to evaluate the season (and start) looking forward to the next.' Van Nistelrooy's disastrous spell in charge saw Leicester suffer 17 defeats in 19 matches. The Foxes endured a nightmare run of form at home, going nine consecutive Premier League games without scoring a single goal — and losing every one of them. Their relegation from the top flight was officially confirmed on April 20, capping off a calamitous campaign under the former striker. With less than seven weeks remaining until the start of the new Championship season, Sean Dyche is said to be among candidates to replace Van Nistelrooy at the King Power. The 53-year-old has been out of working since being sacked as Everton manager in January following a poor run iof results.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Leicester to SACK Ruud van Nistelrooy but will wait weeks to swing axe with Prem cult hero lined up as replacement
LEICESTER CITY will FINALLY sack Ruud van Nistelrooy at the start of next month. The Dutchman's time will be up when the Foxes enter their next football 'accounting' period. 3 Van Nistelrooy's fate has been assured for weeks and Leicester have looked at replacements. But because of the cost of sacking him it has been delayed. Leicester dismissed Steve Cooper after just 12 Premier League games in charge back in November with the Foxes 16th in the table - and clear of the relegation zone. Van Nistelrooy, 48, came in but endured a nightmare campaign which included a run of 17 defeats from 19 matches. Leicester also managed to go nine home top-flight matches in a row without scoring a single goal - and losing all nine. Van Nistelrooy remained in post until the end of the season and insisted there had been no discussions about his future right up to the final game - despite relegation being confirmed on April 20. More than two months later, and now just seven weeks until the start of the 2025-26 Championship campaign, there has been zero communication from the club on the managerial situation, leaving fans furious. But SunSport understands the King Power side have decided to axe Van Nistelrooy. However, they are waiting until after June 30 so that there are not two managerial sackings and pay-offs in the same financial year. Leicester are still anxiously waiting on the points penalty they will pick up for past financial offences. Rebekah Vardy throws husband Jamie a surprise party as he leaves Leicester City But they hope to find a boss willing to take on that handicap. Sean Dyche is strong favourite, as we revealed, as all parties wait to find out how many points will be docked. There will also be a restricted budget but that should not put off Dyche, 53, either. Russell Martin was previously linked but he took the Rangers job. 3 3
