Leicester City announce the departure of manager Steve Cooper, with the 44-year-old being sacked off the back of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.
Leicester City have announced the departure of manager Steve Cooper, with the 44-year-old being sacked off the back of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League.
Cooper was only appointed head coach of Leicester in June, replacing Enzo Maresca, who made the move to Chelsea.
However, the Foxes have made the decision to sack the Welshman after only 15 matches, with Cooper boasting a record of three wins, five draws and seven defeats.
“Leicester City Football Club has parted company with Steve Cooper, who leaves his position as First Team Manager with immediate effect,” read a statement from Leicester on Sunday afternoon.
“Assistant Manager Alan Tate and First Team Coach and Analyst Steve Rands have also left the Club. Steve, Alan and Steve depart with our thanks for their contribution during their time with the Club and with our best wishes for the future.
Leicester announce Cooper sacking
“Men’s First Team training will be overseen by First Team Coach Ben Dawson, supported by coaches Danny Alcock and Andy Hughes, as the Club begins the process of appointing a new manager, which we hope to conclude as soon as possible.”
Cooper was highly critical of the officials following Leicester’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, with the result leaving the Foxes down in 16th spot in the Premier League table, boasting 10 points from their opening 12 matches.
Last season’s Championship winners are two points clear of the relegation zone, but they have lost four of their last five matches in all competitions.
“We’ve had some terrible luck with this referee. That’s continued today. There’s also the game to talk about. Tough first half in terms of Chelsea territory and dominance with the ball. We gave away a poor goal. It should have been 0-0. We had two good chances ourselves in the first half,” Cooper told TNT Sports after the loss to Chelsea.
“Defensively we were generally OK. We need to be showing good courage and belief. If we do that we can create chances and be a threat. We’ll always be disappointed with the goals we conceded.
“The big moment is the first penalty [not given], it’s clear what happened there. The second one was offside [before VAR] and you see how onside he was. That was the story of the officials’ game. You can [speak to them] after 30 minutes. I’m not sure if I will or won’t.”
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What next for Leicester?
Leicester will continue their Premier League campaign away to Brentford next weekend, before hosting West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion in their opening two matches of December.
The Foxes have not put a timeframe on the arrival of a new head coach, but the club will be looking to have a new manager in place as soon as possible, and there are early suggestions that David Moyes, who left West Ham United earlier this year, could be in the frame for the job.
