Speculation continues to mount on who Milan Mandaric will choose as the next manager of LCFC with the difficult target of successive promotions set via the media, therefore we are looking for someone who can kick start our club into action and emulate the success of managers from the past.
With that in mind, as a benchmark, here are the records of the 2 most successful managers of recent times prior to joining LCFC.
| Manager | Games | Won | Lost | Drawn | % Won | % Not Lost |
| Little | 83 | 35 | 21 | 27 | 42.2% | 74.7% |
| O'Neill | 132 | 61 | 32 | 39 | 46.2% | 75.8% |
Based on this, and allowing for the reduced status of the club at this time, the Trust believes ideally we should be looking for a manager with a win ratio of 40% or greater and a not lost ratio of around 70%. Here are the records of 10 mangers who have featured in recent speculation
| Manager | Games | Won | Lost | Drawn | % Won | % Not Lost |
| Ferguson | 72 | 40 | 18 | 14 | 55.6% | 75.0% |
| Ince | 90 | 47 | 23 | 20 | 52.2% | 74.4% |
| Collins | 54 | 23 | 16 | 15 | 42.6% | 70.4% |
| Newell | 229 | 96 | 75 | 58 | 41.9% | 67.2% |
| Cotterill | 439 | 176 | 138 | 125 | 40.1% | 68.6% |
| Davies | 293 | 117 | 96 | 80 | 39.9% | 67.2% |
| Grayson | 135 | 52 | 40 | 43 | 38.5% | 70.4% |
| Lambert | 140 | 49 | 55 | 36 | 35.0% | 60.7% |
| Gregory | 438 | 152 | 169 | 117 | 34.7% | 61.4% |
| Sanchez | 279 | 91 | 109 | 79 | 32.6% | 60.9% |
There are 2 outstanding candidates based on these statistics alone
Both Darren Ferguson’s & Paul Ince’s current records actually surpass both Little and O’Neill’s records. Ferguson has had all his success at Peterborough, like Little and O’Neill whose success were primarily at a single club. Fans would hope that Ferguson may be able to loan a few players through his connections too, should he fancy coming to Leicester.
Ince is probably even more impressive as he has vastly improved the fortunes of both Macclesfield & MK Dons. The big question is would Ince see Leicester City as providing a better chance to success in League One than his current club, where a working relationship with it’s owner is clearly established…….
John Collins record at Hibs also exceeds the win & not lost ratios, however the record is over far less games and having gone down the successful mangers in Scotland route previously with Craig Levein, fans may be less convinced by taking this route again.
Mike Newell and Steve Cotterill both have +40% win ratios, and both have featured in previous vacancy speculation. However Newell’s candid view on agents may not go down well with a Chairman who has paid over £1 million pounds to agents over the last year.
Cotterill’s record however is in decline, as he achieved only a 32.2% win ratio during his last job, 2 ¼ years at Burnley and his style of play may not meet Milan Mandaric’s stated requirements for attractive football.
The most consistently linked name has been Billy Davies, and his record prior to his brief Premiership experience last season, was a 41.5% win ratio, and given he managed to get both Preston & Derby into Championship promotion contention, his record looks a sound one.
The one area of concern is how well Davies would get on with Milan Mandaric. As a guide to this issue we spoke to Rams Trust Chairman Jim Wheeler who described Derby’s Boards relationship with Davies “He had a turbulent relationship with the DCFC Board at times – initially there was a very strong relationship between Chief Exec Mike Horton & Billy, notably during the first summer when making the first signings. There were signs of strain when deadline day didn’t go as they had hoped and there were signs of each side blaming the other – largely over how much money was available. Then when Billy had got the team to gel and put them in contention for promotion, the relationship went well again in January as the Board were prepared to gamble on promotion by freeing up more funds.
Billy always appeared publicly to have maintained a strong relationship with Chairman Peter Gadsby, but always played the media well over who was to blame when things didn’t go so well in the transfer market. Invariably Mike Horton took the flak on these occasions. Following promotion Davies was given carte blanche – Horton was moved aside and Davies was able to bring in all of his back room staff and acquaintances -whatever the cost. Unfortunately he could not bring in who he wanted ON the pitch – for which he blamed the amount of money he was given, while the Board claimed he couldn’t identify the right players & persuade them to come.”
We also asked Jim Wheeler about Billy’s managerial approach, “Davies has stated his strategy is to spot and nurture unfulfilled talent – as he believes his career suffered in that way. He brought in players not getting regular games or on the fringes of big clubs and motivated them to perform at their best. However, he couldn’t bring in and motivate players already at the top of their game and perform in the Premier League.”
Simon Grayson would get much popular support as an ex-player, although the actual record of ex players managing our club has been poor. Grayson’s record in League One was a 44.6% win ratio and a not lost of 73.5%, however despite doing the double over Leicester, Grayson just managed to keep Blackpool in the Championship. With the news Blackpool will sell one of their best players for only £250k, money is obviously tight at Blackpool, so it is believed he would not see dropping down a division as a step backwards in the long term.
The timing of Paul Lamberts departure from Wycombe increased the speculation he had departed to take over at Leicester, however it was subsequently reported he has informed the Wycombe board a couple of months ago. His record at Wycombe of a 40.7% win ratio is good, but so far his name being linked has not inspired the fans, which is certainly required to boost ticket sales
The Foxes Trust do not believe the records of Gregory or Sanchez are good enough to see their appointments as a step forward. The bookies have slashed odds on Gregory over the last week.
Just in case there is any good reason for this, the Trust would like to remind the club of Gregory’s performance at this last job at QPR, a 27.1% win ratio, and a not lost of 52.1%, which is worse than the LCFC record of the man who has just “departed by mutual consent” (28.1” win, 53.1% not lost).