Wherever Leicester’s most graffiti-ed wall is, the writing was on it for Paulo Sousa the minute he took over the reigns at the Walkers Stadium. The jury was still out on the calm and collected Portuguese after spells at QPR and Swansea while his predecessor, Nigel Pearson, was still worshipped as a minor deity in the East Midlands. Watching Sousa accept the job was like seeing a bit-part character in a horror movie open a door you know they really shouldn’t be opening.
When you’ve got Milan Mandaric as your chairman, results have to be instant and with the Foxes rooted to the foot of the Championship with a goal difference of minus twelve, including a 6-1 hammering at Portsmouth, then it was inevitable that Leciester would be looking for their 15th manager since 2004.
But let’s stick with Sousa for the minute. The League Managers’ Association have condemned his sacking in the strongest terms and, with just nine games gone, there’s no way of telling if Sousa was just experiencing teething troubles or was genuinely out of his depth.
In fact, ever since the double Champions League winner pitched up at Queen’s Park Rangers in 2008 it’s been impossible to tell whether he was any good as a manager.
Here was a glamourous European name associated with success and he fitted with the image the Loftus Road club was aiming to portray at the time, yet working for Flavio Briatorie was never going to be easy. QPR’s results were solid but unspectacular and his time in West London ended in a farcical manner when he was sacked for allegedly divulging sensitive details over a loan move for Dexter Blackstock, something that many Hoops fans suspected was a convenient excuse to get rid of him.
Next Sousa moved onto Swansea, where he lasted the whole season but again failed to convince. His sides were pragmatic and defensive but also struggled for goals, and his methods failed to excite Swans fans. It didn’t help that he came across as if South Wales was just a stepping stone for a man destined to manage at the highest level and few tears were shed by the Liberty faithful when he left for Leicester in the summer.
The Foxes had been one spot kick away from Wembley at the end of last season and, with the outstanding Jack Hobbs in defence, Andy King and Ritchie Wellens in the middle and goal-machine Matty Fryatt up front, were expected to challenge for the title.
Strangely, Mandaric seemed more than happy to quickly usher the successful Pearson out of the door when Hull City came calling and following in a much-loved manager’s footsteps meant Sousa had a lot to do to convince the club’s supporters.
The Foxes squad was good but, as The 72 points out, Sousa was quick to bring in his own foreign imports, which seemed to go down badly in the dressing room.
Despite that, a draw away at Coventry followed by a win against Cardiff suggested that Sousa had managed to turn a corner. And then came that 6-1 drubbing at Fratton Park. From the off, Leicester were insipid and timid, and Pompey, then propping up the Championship, ran riot.
Even a late attempt at a comeback away to Norwich, managed by Sousa’s old Dortmund team mate Paul Lambert, wasn’t enough and Mandaric pulled the trigger.
All this has left Foxes fans with that familiar feeling of unease. They are still unclear as to who exactly owns the club after Mandaric’s sale to a Thai consortium, although nobody’s quite sure how much for, who all the investors are and, given he retains the chairmanship, what the exact nature of Mandaric’s relationship with the consortium is.
To top it all off, Sven-Goran Eriksson is currently the front-runner for the Leicester job - and God only knows where the money to pay his salary would come from.
In the meantime, Leicester City sit at the bottom of the Championship with no manager, questions over the boardroom, a group of fans still pining for an old love, just five points, and a horribly familiar sinking feeling.
Tags: Leicester City, Milan Mandaric, Nigel Pearson, Paulo Sousa
When he left Swansea it was in the style of a girl leaving a boyfriend that she was too pretty for. Imagine the Swans fans delight when she turned out to be no-good and they ended up with something altogether prettier (not literally) in the form of Brendan Rodgers.
I’m starting to get a really bad feeling about this. It’s looking like we are the new Notts County.
I was at the 6 - 1 defeat to Pompey, and quite honestly after a rotten display like that I’m surprised he lasted the whole week. Nothing against the players, individually they tried their best, but it was pretty obvious that none of them had the first idea what formation they were playing. Loads of aimless long balls for Howard to nod down to …. nobody. Unfathomable substitutions. A manager out of his depth. I remember Craig Levein’s last game in charge where he turned up at Plymouth with a bench full of strikers, but no sub keeper. It was obvious then that he’d lost the plot, and he was sacked the week after. Sousa was starting to look the same.
Please Martin, come and rescue us….
Its not so much the sacking of Sousa thats the issue its why Mandaric let or pushed pearson out. The fans were enjoying a bit of football for a change. Sousa was a surprise candidate and sadly everyone already knows his non exciting style of play.