Swift and decisive action, removing a coach who is falling short of expectations. Rapid appointment of a new, exciting, young coach with Premier League playing experience galore but fresh to management: Leicester City’s owners have shown others how to do it with their rapid appointment of rumoured one-time Hammers’ target head coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy as their new manager.
The Dutch coach will take charge of the Foxes after this weekend’s round of Premier League games, so his first match at the helm will be Leicester’s home game against Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham on 3rd December. How different that could have been – had the football fates conspired in another direction, it could have been Van Nistelrooy in charge at West Ham against David Moyes‘ Leicester!
Moyes must be slightly disappointed to have gone for the Leicester job but failed in his bid: Presumably he’s firmly after a return to Everton now.
Lopetegui, meanwhile, knows that the Leicester City’s squad will be energised and keen to impress new coach Van Nistelrooy after the firing of former boss Steve Cooper, even though their new head coach will have had just two days to work with the squad.
The result is crucial to West Ham as they enter their run of more ‘winnable’ fixtures in need of points both to move upwards in the Premier League and to safeguard Lopetegui’s future and avoid him becoming the next casualty after Cooper.
