Ruud van Nistelrooy’s 11th Premier League defeat as Leicester City manager on Thursday night was a humiliating capitulation at the hands of West Ham United, and as relegation looms so the sense of drift has become acute. A Premier League great as a striker, Van Nistelrooy’s first long-term managerial appointment in the English game has seen players dropped and reinstated, staff changed, but performances and results in inexorable decline.
It has been the dismal performance of certain players, once again in the first half on Thursday, that has prompted pundits to wonder aloud whether the team are simply resigned to their fate. “Zero quality, zero belief in what they were doing,” said the former Leicester player Neil Lennon, for TNT Sports, “the game seemed to pass them by”. His fellow pundit Joe Cole highlighted a lacklustre recovery run by the midfielder Harry Winks, who had only come on as a substitute at West Ham.
Winks is one of three senior players, along with Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard, who commute from their homes in other parts of the country to the training ground in north Leicestershire, and the King Power Stadium. Having identified a less-than-ideal spirit among the group, with Vestergaard in particular leaving the training ground soon after the end of sessions, Van Nistelrooy said to those players that they had to spend more time in proximity to the club’s Seagrave base.
Vestergaard, who clashed with both Brendan Rodgers and Van Nistelrooy’s predecessor Steve Cooper, was rewarded with a new contract in the summer. The Danish defender commutes from London. It was agreed that he could stay occasionally at the five-star standard accommodation on the first floor of the training ground, which players, staff and the guests of the owners, the Srivaddhanaprabha family, have used in the past.
Subsequently, some members of staff were surprised to learn that Vestergaard had brought his dog with him to stay at the training ground. He was spotted walking the dog around the training ground pitches in the morning as team-mates arrived. Vestergaard also asked one of the club’s player liaison officers to take care of the dog while he was training. In football, player liaison officers, in general, are those most often subject to unusual requests. Nevertheless, the appearance of Vestergaard’s dog at a high-performance training centre – Seagrave is among the most advanced in the country – caused surprise among some and was regarded as indicative of a culture where certain players feel they can do what they want.
Telegraph Sport has been told that Vestergaard was given permission to bring his dog by the club on this one occasion because his family in London were away and there was no one to care for it. It is understood that it was considered a “one-off” and solely as a means to help him prepare. In a separate incident, having been substituted against West Ham, Vestergaard appeared to ignore Van Nistelrooy’s offer of a touchline handshake.
Formation changed on day of game
Ahead of their previous game, a 4-0 defeat by Brentford last Friday, Van Nistelrooy eventually decided on a 4-3-3 formation for which the players had not prepared during the week and that was announced on the day of the game. The team collapsed in the first half, prompting Van Nistelrooy to lament that the gap between his side and their visitors that day had been too great. Behind the scenes there had been disquiet.
Telegraph Sport has been told that, although there was a change to the formation communicated late on, it was nothing more than what was described as a “tweak” and the kind that would often be made in-game by a manager. The nature of the personnel did not change and it was more about the roles being asked of certain midfielders.
On Monday, Leicester announced the departure of two staff members whom Van Nistelrooy had inherited, the first team coach Ben Dawson and Danny Alcock. The pair were called into meetings that morning with Van Nistelrooy and told that their services were no longer required. As Telegraph Sport has reported, Dawson was doing most of the on-field coaching. Before Christmas, Van Nistelrooy had appointed Brian Barry-Murphy to his staff. The 46-year-old had a long playing career as a midfielder, and latterly was Rochdale manager and also coach of the development team at Manchester City. The pair had not worked together previously.
In the lead-up to the Brentford game it is understood that Barry-Murphy clashed with the first-team players over a session he had personally overseen. The row between the players and the coach continued inside the building at Seagrave. It is understood that Barry-Murphy accused the players of not following his instructions. The players responded by saying that the guidance had been unclear. The next day Barry-Murphy apologised to the players and the squad continued preparation.
Telegraph Sport has been told that it was a standard dispute on a Premier League training pitch and nothing more than, sources said, “a couple of cross words”. Players and staff were said to have moved on from it the following day.
Major decision looms on Vardy future
The nature of the most recent defeats has been particularly damaging for Van Nistelrooy, who now faces a daunting run of fixtures starting with a visit to Chelsea and former Leicester manager Enzo Maresca a week on Sunday. After that it is his former club Manchester United at home, then Manchester City (away), Newcastle United (home), Brighton (away) and leaders Liverpool at the King Power on April 20. Those 11 league defeats have come in their last 12 games under Van Nistelrooy. Equally troubling for their manager is that they have gone six straight home games without scoring a goal, breaking the Premier League record.
There were more chants in the home defeat by Brentford calling for the end of Jon Rudkin’s 11 years as the day-to-day power at the club. He rose to become the director of football, first as the right-hand man of the late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who powered Leicester’s 2014 promotion and Premier League title triumph two years later, and subsequently Vichai’s son Aiyawatt, known as Top. Rudkin and Top make all the decisions – including the appointment of Van Nistelrooy.
While Van Nistelrooy has been able to make changes to his staff, the same has not been the case with his squad. About £70 million was spent on fees late in the summer window, once it was clear Leicester had escaped a points deduction under Premier League profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). The only signing in January was French full-back Woyo Coulibaly for £3 million from Parma. Loan signing Odsonne Édouard has not featured since November 10 despite the cost of his £2.5 million fee and wages.
The set-piece coach Andy Hughes, the third senior member of the staff Van Nistelrooy inherited, has had his role with the first team dramatically reduced in recent weeks. The staff around Van Nistelrooy now includes Jelle ten Rouwelaar, the goalkeeper coach. Like Van Nistelrooy, Ten Rouwelaar was appointed by United under then manager Erik ten Hag, and also later jettisoned by Ruben Amorim. Ten Rouwelaar is the most senior of the coaches. Van Nistelrooy has also promoted the former Leicester player Andy King, previously in the academy, to the first-team staff.
The club also have a major decision to make over the career of Jamie Vardy, their greatest ever player, who is once again out of contract in the summer. The striker, who powered them to their 2016 Premier League title and has 198 goals for the club, was out of contract last summer and subsequently renewed. A huge figure at Leicester, Vardy was asked on the balcony at the Championship title celebrations in the summer whether he would play on. He responded, “That’s on Jon Rudkin.”
That decision looms again for Leicester’s director of football, as well as a second relegation in three years – if results continue in the same way. Whether Van Nistelrooy would survive that outcome to this season will depend on Rudkin and Top, and also the finances of the club, and their PSR compliancy.
