The Glaring Reason Leicester City Deserves Relegation

Suggestions that Steve Cooper was harshly treated by Leceister City tend to be ignored in the East Midlands.

Fighting a losing battle from the moment he arrived at the King Power Stadium, a less-than-stellar start to the season did little to make the fanbase already suspicious of his past links to bitter rivals Nottingham Forest.

Nevertheless, when he was axed in November, I warned that the Foxes would likely regret the decision.

Although the club was in 17th place at that stage, the situation was far from terminal, especially given that Cooper had survived similar scapes before.

But Leicester City decided to pull the trigger and, worse yet, placed all bets on a man with a golden name and no pedigree.

It is no exaggeration to say the appointment of Ruud Van Nistelrooy has been nothing short of a disaster.

The Foxes conceded 33 goals in Van Nistelrooy’s 15 games, 10 of which resulted in defeat, with just three wins.

The Dutchman has been reduced to describing Brentford, hardly one of the Premier League’s elite clubs, as a ‘level’ above his side.

“You have to acknowledge it’s a huge step back,” said Van Nistelrooy in the aftermath of a 0-4 defeat to the Bees. “Overall, the general level and the difference between the level of Brentford and us was significant and a worry for future hopes for us.

“With the squad we have, it’s a huge, huge, huge mountain to climb to stay in this league; that’s the reality. Today, it showed.

“The situation we are in is alarming, and the mountain we have to climb is huge.”

“From now on, I can only ask the players to play to their capabilities. So far we are doing everything we can but the level of opposition that we face is too big for us. It’s difficult to compete. We get disappointed every week and then we have to try and pick ourselves up.

“We have to recover from blow after blow. Then we have to pick ourselves up and try and get some positives performances. I can only say that every individual, me first, is taking full responsibility. I have to recover and reflect, like all the staff here, and take it from there.

“Brentford took over. They killed the game. Overall, you have to give them credit; they outplayed us. They are ahead of us with their squad. It was too difficult for us to compete with them.”

These words were delivered with a grim resignation; he sounded defeated.

The situation has deteriorated, so he now faces questions about his future as Leicester City boss.

“I know what contract I signed. It wasn’t a contract for five months or six months. It was a contract, after this, for two more seasons,” he replied recently when asked.

“I was aware when I arrived what the challenge was and how difficult it could be. I was aware of that and committed to that future.”

“We’ve managed to get some results where everything worked, where we had a bit of luck, where we changed the momentum of the game, we stayed in the game for long periods. Those moments are something we cling on to. We feel like we can do it.”

However, he added, “I called it a mountain to climb, but life is about climbing mountains, and mountains are there to be climbed. That challenge I take.”

What did Leicester City really expect from a man with sparse managerial experience and a career spent predominantly at the high echelons of the game?

We should never assume that a career at teams challenging for the league titles and European places means an individual cannot handle the pressure of a relegation battle.

However, repeated examples show that those who have existed predominantly at the summit struggle to excel in a dogfight.

It was telling that in a BBC Sport article discussing Van Nistelrooy’s future, “sources close to the first team” referenced the Dutchman’s playing career supporting his continued employment.

“Van Nistelrooy’s achievements during his playing career – winning the Premier League, La Liga twice and the Eredivisie twice as a feared striker in world football – means he has commanded instant respect,” they claimed.

Instant respect is normally where the usefulness of such feats ends. They will provide little insight into building the confidence of a group of players who’ve been routed repeatedly or offer a method for patching up a leaking backline.

Yet time and again, we see clubs wowed by players with famous names who lack experience or, worse, still have poor records.

Leicester deserve relegation not for firing Steve Cooper but for being so short-sighted in who they hired to replace him.