Steve Cooper to Leicester was the managerial appointment that should never have happened so it is no surprise his tenure has ended after only 15 matches.
There is fault on both sides. Though keen to return to the dugout after six months away from the game, Cooper was giving himself no margin of error by moving to Leicester. Sure enough, he has lasted barely five months, and it feels grimly appropriate that his final game should come against Enzo Maresca, who left Leicester for Chelsea last June. Maresca’s men won 2-1 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday on another day of struggle for Cooper.
A former manager of Nottingham Forest was always going to be treated with suspicion by fans of their East Midlands rivals, especially one who was loved as much as Cooper was at the City Ground. Because Maresca, rather than Cooper, had led Leicester to promotion before leaving for Chelsea, Cooper could not count on any residual goodwill from players or supporters when times were tough. Both the Leicester squad and the fanbase are notoriously difficult to impress.
Not even Brendan Rodgers, who led Leicester to two trophies and consecutive fifth-placed finishes, was loved by supporters, even before his reign fell apart in its final season. In that respect, Cooper was behind the eight ball from the moment he signed.
Cooper has had to coach a squad built largely for Maresca, whose departure caught everyone by surprise, and has had to operate in the Premier League rather than the Championship. After working for such an unforgiving boss in Evangelos Marinakis, perhaps Cooper thought life would be much easier at Leicester. He was wrong.
The football structure at the King Power Stadium, driven by an all-powerful director of football in Jon Rudkin, caused moments of frustration for both Maresca and Rodgers, two of Leicester’s best coaches of modern times.
Leicester have parted company with their manager Steve Cooper after just 15 matches
Cooper has been in charge at the Foxes since August and has won just four matches
A former manager of Nottingham Forest was always going to be treated with suspicion by fans of their East Midlands rivals, especially one who was loved as much as Cooper
A shrewder operation would never have appointed Cooper, for precisely the reasons the Welshman ought to have thought twice before accepting the role.
Irritated by Graham Potter’s unwillingness to commit to the job and reluctant to pay the £4million release clause for West Brom coach Carlos Corberan, Leicester moved for Cooper after weeks of discussions. Leicester tried to appoint Potter in 2023 and last summer. Will it be third time lucky? Ruud van Nistelrooy also pushed for the job last summer and he left Manchester United with reputation improved.
There were problems for the Cooper regime from the off. Coaches and players were unimpressed with the quality of hotels during the pre-season tour of Germany, with the standard of air-conditioning and poor WiFi connection among the complaints.
Matters were little better in other areas, too: Cooper needed a centre-forward and though deals were lined up for Panathinaikos striker Fotis Ioannidis and Adam Hlozek of Bayer Leverkusen, Ioannidis stayed put and Hlozek moved to Hoffenheim instead. With Patson Daka injured until Saturday’s game, Jamie Vardy – who turns 38 in January – was the only fit forward Cooper trusted.
No analysis of Leicester is complete without discussion of their greatest player. Still at the training ground for 8.30am, ultra-dedicated to his recovery and continuing to swear by his pre-match routine of cheese omelettes, espresso and Red Bull.
If, in football speak, Vardy is ‘having’ a Leicester manager, life for the man in the dugout is considerably easier than when he is not. In his 12-year Foxes career, Vardy has seen eight full-time managers come and go and his legacy in that period is unmatched.
Cooper knew this and tried hard to bring Vardy onside. After Vardy had scored in the 1-1 draw with Tottenham on August 19, Cooper claimed he had been ready to rule the skipper out due to injury, only for Vardy to insist he would play through the pain barrier. In interviews that night, Cooper said repeatedly Vardy was ‘the main man here’.
Vardy has never questioned Cooper publicly and his performances in a struggling side – four goals in 11 games – brook little argument. The general feeling, though, is that many of the squad were never sold. While plenty may have liked Cooper personally, they were unconvinced by his tactics and training methods, feeling sessions were too long and that plans lacked the clarity of Maresca’s.
It was poetic that Cooper’s last game at the Foxes came against Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea
There were problems for the Cooper regime from the off including coaches and players being left unimpressed by hotels during a pre-season tour of Germany
Ruud van Nistelrooy had pushed for the Leicester job before Cooper had taken over at the club
Cooper had also been fiercly critical of referees, something that was par for the course at Nottingham Forest
Leicester have scored in every game but one but at the back they have been chaotic, facing 210 shots in 12 league games, a significant number of which were from dangerous positions. Cooper’s inability to make them more durable helped cook his goose.
Cooper was fiercely critical of referees and while that was par for the course at Forest, who are owned by the volatile Evangelos Marinakis, such matters are approached differently at Leicester. This is believed to have caused some discomfort behind the scenes.
Jannik Vestergaard was such a key man under Maresca that he was rewarded with a new three-year deal in June, not long before Cooper was appointed. After starting the season under Cooper, the Dane has largely been moved to the margins. Read into that what you will.
When Cooper has time to reflect, he will surely accept that this was a job he needed to swerve. He remains a fine coach and he will be back.
If Forest are now thriving in the top half of the table, Cooper deserves a great deal of credit. He led them to promotion in 2022 after taking charge when they were bottom of the Championship eight months earlier and kept them up under hugely difficult circumstances the following year.
His work with Swansea and England’s age-group sides also mean Cooper will be courted again by upwardly-mobile clubs again.
Similarly, Leicester’s squad need to take a look in the mirror. They may never have bought into Cooper’s methods but if they thought they could play Guardiola-lite football in the Premier League as they did in the Championship, they are foolish.
Just look at Burnley, who tried to do the same under Vincent Kompany and are now back in the second tier. Cooper made mistakes aplenty but it is also time for certain players to leave their egos at the door if they do not want to follow the same path.
