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Graham Potter, Ruud van Nistelrooy – what Leicester City will consider in next manager search
Graham Potter will again be under consideration as Leicester City begin their search for Steve Cooper’s successor.
Just five months after their search for Enzo Maresca’s replacement, City are again looking for a new man to take the reins. It may be third time's a charm for the former Brighton and Chelsea manager.
Back when City sacked Brendan Rodgers in April 2023, the same day Chelsea parted company with Potter, he was offered an immediate chance to return to work by the King Power Stadium hierarchy. He turned it down and the club appointed Dean Smith.
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Then, in the summer, Potter was on the three-man final shortlist to be Maresca’s successor. The club came close to appointing him, with Potter even starting to sound out coaches to potentially form his backroom team. But there were lingering doubts on both sides.
At the time, Gareth Southgate was leading England through Euro 2024 and the feeling was that it would be his last tournament. By July, the FA would be looking for a new Three Lions boss and Potter, as one of the best-performing English coaches of the past few years, would have been a contender.
Having half an eye on the England job led to delays and City did not want to wait, moving instead for Cooper. West Brom’s Carlos Corberan was the other man on the shortlist at the time, but a multi-million pound compensation fee needed to be paid to get the Spaniard out of the Hawthorns.
Now, there may not be any doubts on Potter’s side. Thomas Tuchel is the new England manager and so the country’s big job won’t be available for some time. Potter may be more willing to now take a club job, and has been making media appearances in recent months.
Plus, City no longer have the points deduction hanging over them. Many expected City to lose their PSR fight with the Premier League and be set back at least six points, but, provided they haven't overstepped the mark for the 23-24 season, there will be no deductions.
It may help that City have been long-term admirers. Back when there was a possibility that Rodgers might be poached by one of the Premier League’s big-hitters, City had Potter, then Brighton manager, as the man in the pipeline and would have approached the Seagulls had they needed to fill a vacancy.
Cooper has been sacked principally because there were concerns he would not be able to ensure the club’s survival, which is the principal objective for this campaign. In that regard, a manager like David Moyes, who has consistently kept clubs in the Premier League, might be considered.
But City don’t need a firefighter, unlike when they sacked Rodgers with 10 games to go. The new manager, if appointed this week, will have 26 fixtures in which to keep City in their current position, above the drop zone.
Managers don’t typically like to join clubs mid-season, but there is plenty of time to work with. It shouldn’t put too many off, especially with the January transfer window coming up as well.
Potter is not the only manager who can build something at City, but he does have the bonus of being a free agent. That’s still not the case for Corberan, nor somebody like Michael Carrick at Middlesbrough.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s name is being mentioned but he was not considered at all in the summer. King Power have never appointed a manager that didn’t at least have some coaching experience in England under their belt.
In the summer, Van Nistelrooy didn’t have that, having only been manager at PSV having come up through the coaching ranks there. But he joined Erik ten Hag’s staff in the summer and then had a successful interim period, albeit two of his three wins came against City, with the scorelines in both matches flattering United.
Premier League rivals have brought overseas managers in, those without prior experience of English football, and have had success. Brighton are doing well under Fabian Hurzeler while Crystal Palace initially made strides under Oliver Glasner before stumbling a little this season.
But there’s been no evidence so far that City will take that route. That would require a change of tact, albeit their decision to sack Cooper after just 12 games does suggest they’ve learned lessons from the past, and so a different approach to appointing a manager is not out of the question.
