Leicester City owner made stance on sacking Ruud van Nistelrooy clear in honest chat with players
Leicester City owner made stance on sacking Ruud van Nistelrooy clear in honest chat with players
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha appointed Ruud van Nistelrooy as Leicester City manager in late 2024.
The Foxes began the season in dire form under the guidance of former Nottingham Forest man, Steve Cooper.
Leicester City were already up against before the season had begun following the exits of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Enzo Maresca.
However, it’s fair to say that Cooper really failed to live up to the already low expectations at the club.
He won just two of his 12 Premier League games in charge before the Leicester owner sacked him and brought in Ruud van Nistelrooy.
The Dutchman’s experience in management is limited but cup success in the Eredivisie and a few positive results as interim Manchester United boss suggested he could be the man for the job.
So far, however, Van Nistelrooy has failed to turn the fortunes of the Midlands outfit around, with relegation now looming.
Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha feelings on sacking Ruud van Nistelrooy already clear
Most recently, Leicester lost 2-0 to fellow strugglers Crystal Palace, dealing their survival hopes another blow.
Going into the next round of Premier League fixtures, the Foxes are now 19th with just 14 points from 21 games.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | Points |
| 18 |  Ipswich |
21 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 37 | -17 | 16 |
| 19 |  Leicester |
21 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 23 | 46 | -23 | 14 |
| 20 |  Southampton |
21 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 13 | 47 | -34 | 6 |
They are winless in seven and have lost their last six league matches while conceding at least two in every game.
With a place in the top flight on the line, some fans may expect to see Van Nistelrooy sacked if this form continues in the coming weeks.
A report published by the Telegraph in late November 2024, however, suggests the former Manchester United ace will probably stick around no matter what happens in the remainder of this season.
It was claimed at the time that Leicester owner ‘Top’ addressed his players at their training ground following the sacking of Cooper and the appointment of Ruud.
When doing so, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha is said to have spoken about the Foxes’ financial situation and how paying off another manager will put a strain on them and their struggles to comply with PSR.
Leicester City Premier League relegation chances predicted
Leicester are now set to face off with Fulham in a 3pm Premier League kick-off on January 18th.
Should they lose that match, they will have just 16 games left to amass 26 points and reach the magic 40-point mark generally required to stay in the top flight.
At present though, it seems very unlikely the Foxes are going to survive. Opta update their predicted Premier League table after each set of fixtures.
Right now, they are giving Leicester an 87.16 percent chance of suffering relegation in 2024/25.
Only Southampton – 99.75 percent – have a higher chance of being relegated at present.
In turn, despite only taking charge of his first game on December 3rd, some fans are already beginning to turn on Ruud and even suggesting he’s no better than Cooper.
Another simply wrote: “Cooper > Ruud,” while a third stated: “After 10 games Leicester were 16th with 10 points. After 21 games they’re 19th with 14 points. It’s a Ruud problem, it was never a Cooper problem. An owner should never listen to a player’s opinion regarding managers.”
A fourth added: “Cooper wasn’t the problem, Ruud is.”
“Ruud is worse he doesn’t understand his team. Poor first 11 selection,” a fifth Leicester fan wrote.
Leave a Reply