Despite leading Leicester City to ninth last season and standing 12th on 24 February this season, the Foxes decided to sack manager Claude Puel after fan unrest became too much to ignore.
The sacking came after Leicester a streak of five losses in six games but left many football fans wondering why the club would sack a manager who is holding them in the area where the team can realistically expect to finish.
Football is still an entertainment industry
Claude Puel has reportedly been sacked as manager of Leicester City.
The Frenchman was in charge of the Foxes for 56 Premier League games, winning just 33.9 per cent (W19, D13, L24).
Full story to follow… pic.twitter.com/hGbBqIca6l
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) February 24, 2019
Football, and sport as a whole, is an entertainment business: if you don’t produce entertaining performances for your fans, you will suffer. While Claude Puel was producing results that would give the Foxes steady footing at the highest level of English football, the performances were droll and often left fans wanting more from their team.
Puel has experienced this before, according to Leicester Mercury, having hoisted Southampton to an incredible eighth-place finish but getting sacked shortly after. The problem is his style of play, peculiar substitutions, and the lack of impetus placed on playing exciting football in-front of the home fans.
Following matchday 28, in which the Foxes won without a full-time manager assigned, Leicester stood 12th in the league for goals scored with 34, and joint-11th for the fewest goals conceded with 39 against. Despite sitting 11th at the time, the team were 14th in the home table with a woeful record of 5-2-7 at the King Power Stadium but 9th in the away table with a 5-3-6 record.
A single point splits the home and away records, but the same tactics were deployed regardless of the venue, with a slow-paced suffocating style delivered to the fans. As the live viewing experience for most fans is on match day at the stadium, it’s important that teams up the ante and take the game to their opponents, utilising the voice of the crowd.
Instead, fans became bored with their team’s style, knowing that the exciting talents in the team could be playing a more expansive and exciting system. As shown by The Telegraph, fans were even booing the soon-to-depart boss in his last game in charge.
Foxes fans immediately got excited again
FULL-TIME Leicester 2-1 Brighton
Brendan Rodgers watches his new side pick up three points thanks to goals from Demarai Gray and Jamie Vardy#LEIBHA pic.twitter.com/GXY6wpDpL8
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 26, 2019
A mere two days after Claude Puel was sacked, the atmosphere at the King Power Stadium which had been quelled under the former manager was buzzing throughout their game with Brighton and Hove Albion. Caretaker manager loaded the team with the explosive talents of Harvey Barnes, James Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans, Demarai Gray, and Jamie Vardy to strike fear into the staunch Brighton defence.
The fans were in voice throughout, cheering their team and for their newly appointed manager Brendan Rodgers, who has a knack for playing exciting and attacking football and utilising the skills of young stars.
With Puel and exciting times on the horizon, Leicester City fans can’t get enough football once again, seeking as much football action as they possibly can. As could be expected, Foxin’ Wins: Football Fever has once again become a very popular free game among Foxes fans at Casino Wings, and you can read more on how to get the no-deposit bonus at Play Ojo, delivering even more footy fun away from the ground.
Many managers in the history of the Premier League have been given their marching orders due to fan demand and in spite of their success in the league and cup tournaments. Many high-profile managers have succumbed to fan demand in the past, with the crowd not appreciating their styles of play.
For Puel, however, this is his second job in a row that has seen him sacked due to the demand of home fans wanting to see entertaining football. From a job perspective, both firings can be seen as quite harsh, but if the fans want entertainment, the manager and the club have to deliver.
