LEICESTER CITY have parted company with two first-team coaches after their relegation fears deepened over the weekend.
The Foxes are currently sat in 19th place in the Premier League and five points adrift of safety.
GettyTwo members of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s backroom staff have been sacked at Leicester as relegation looms[/caption]
GettyFirst team coach Ben Dawson and goalkeeping coach Danny Alcock both left in a brief joint statement[/caption]
A 4-0 drubbing in front of their own fans at the hands of Brentford did not help to allay those fears.
And with both West Ham and Wolves winning at the weekend against Arsenal and Bournemouth respectively, Ruud van Nistelrooy‘s side have only slipped into the relegation mire.
In a bid to reverse what seems inevitable, Leicester have parted company with two members of Van Nistelrooy’s backroom staff.
These are first-team coach Ben Dawson and goalkeeping coach Danny Alcock.
In a brief statement published this morning, the club said: “Leicester City has today parted company with First Team Coaches Ben Dawson and Danny Alcock.
“Both Ben and Danny joined the Club at the start of the 2024/25 season, serving under both Steve Cooper and Ruud van Nistelrooy, while also overseeing a brief spell in interim charge of the First Team squad.
“We place on record our thanks to Ben and Danny for their contribution and service and wish them both well in the next steps of their respective careers.”
Leicester named Van Nistelrooy as manager in late November after sacking Steve Cooper.
He took charge of his first game against West Ham on December 3, winning 3-1, before securing a 2-2 draw with Brighton five days later.
But Leicester then went on a seven-game losing run in the league, only winning away at injury-ravaged Tottenham.
But it was soon back to usual as they were thrashed 4-0 by Everton before losing 2-0 to Arsenal and, most recently, Brentford.
Friday’s defeat to the Bees has seen the Foxes pick up the unwanted record of being the first team in Premier League history to lose six games in a row at home without scoring, for an aggregate score of 15-0.
Speaking after the stinging defeat, Van Nistelrooy – who started the season as assistant to Erik ten Hag at Manchester United – said: “From now on, I can only ask the players to play to their capabilities.
“So far we are doing everything we can but the level of opposition that we face is too big for us. It’s difficult to compete.
“We get disappointed every week and then we have to try and pick ourselves up.
“We have to recover from blow after blow. Then we have to pick ourselves up and try and get some positives performances.
“I can only say that every individual, me first, is taking full responsibility. I have to recover and reflect, like all the staff here and take it from there.
“Brentford took over. They killed the game. Overall you have to give them credit, they outplayed us.
“They are ahead of us with their squad. It was too difficult for us to compete with them.”
Leicester’s next game sees them pay a visit to West Ham before a nightmare run of fixtures against Chelsea, Man Utd, Manchester City and Newcastle.
A supercomputer also fails to see Leicester mounting a great escape like they managed exactly ten years ago before they managed to stun the world by winning the title the following season.
The 2014/15 season saw Nigel Pearson‘s crafty Foxes win seven of their last nine league games to climb out of the relegation zone after being marooned at the bottom of the table for four-and-a-half months.
Such miracles have proven to be rare, but not impossible.
And that hope is just about all the Foxes can hang on to as the season progresses.