It’s been 22 days since Marti Ciufuentes was relieved of his duties as Leicester boss. In this time, the club has fallen to four defeats under Andy King, with no credible links to a successor. The lack of long-term planning is staggering, especially when compared to the likes of Nottingham Forest or Blackburn Rovers, who have found their replacement much quicker. Despite this, City are finally advancing in their search for a new boss, with former player Gary Rowett being the likely candidate. With the Foxes out the FA Cup and now in the relegation zone, Rowett will need to work his magic to turn the tide around.
Gary Rowett Becomes Leicester City Front-Runner
Gary Rowett Talks
As reported by John Percy, Leicester is targeting Rowett to become the next figure in the hot seat. Percy confirms that negotiations are underway over an initial short-term deal for the climax of the campaign. Rowett, of course, featured 49 times in Royal Blue, a tenure that lasted from 2000 to 2002.
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The 51-year-old has since made a name for himself in management with several jobs in recent years. His longest stint came with Millwall as he took charge for almost 200 games, and achieved a points per game total of 1.45. Since then, he has had shorter spells with Birmingham City and Oxford United, with the task of keeping them in the second tier. The two jobs had varying success, as the Blues were relegated back in 23/24 with 50 points. In contrast, he helped keep Oxford up last season, before losing his job in December 2025, due to gaining just a single win in 10 games.
How Does This Affect Leicester?
Whilst it is good that a new figurehead has finally been identified, the 22-day wait could be costly. Throwing King, someone with no managerial experience into these games has been a disaster, as the squad couldn’t even show up for the club legend. The 4-3 defeat to Southampton was particularly poor, as they threw away a 3-1 lead in the last 10 minutes. Like in the 2022/23 term, when Adam Sadler took charge of defeats against Aston Villa and Bournemouth, the misery under King could lead to relegation. The Foxes have fallen into the relegation zone now and aren’t showing signs of staying up. Without a league clean sheet since September, one win in January, and ultimately, devoid of direction heading into the future.
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As for Rowett, he has shown signs of stabilising clubs and keeping them in the division. This is realistically all Leicester need as back-to-back relegations would be catastrophic. More pragmatism and defensive stability will be key as they enter the last few games, as this is one of the many aspects plaguing them this campaign. If the side did become hard to beat, then their deficiencies going forward would also be made up for, as they lack a clinical number nine.
Time will tell whether the appointment is what Leicester need, but any change was necessary given the dismal circumstances. Leicester are next in action this weekend, as they travel to the Bet365 Stadium to take on Stoke City. With this story developing, Rowett will more than likely be at the helm for the pivotal game.
