Not many managers can survive a run of 17 defeats in 19 games, nine consecutive defeats at home without scoring a single goal or picking up just eight points from a possible 63.
Add to that a single clean sheet, 49 goals conceded and 11 scored. Usually, such a run of statistics places the manager’s position in the untenable category. Typically, such poor performances will have the supporters of that club demanding a change.
That hasn’t been the case for Leicester City and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
When relegation was looming, Leicester could have been tempted to make a second change of what has been a dire campaign, having sacked Steve Cooper after 12 games when he had 10 points on the board and the club was outside the relegation zone.
The feeling may have been, ‘What’s the point?’ Relegation seemed a certainty anyway. They then could have decided enough was enough when relegation was confirmed with five games still to play, as Southampton did when they removed their second manager of the season, Ivan Juric. But there was no reaction. Nothing.
If the Leicester fans are scratching their heads and wondering what is going on and who will be the manager next season given the overhaul needed of a failing squad, and rebuilding the club for a promotion challenge against the backdrop of EFL scrutiny over the club’s profit and sustainability rule compliance, then so is Van Nistelrooy.
“(I am) still hoping to find out,” Van Nistelrooy said before the 2-0 home win over Southampton. “The quicker the better, in the best interest of the club.
“We’re all hoping to find out soon. There’s 70 people working at the training ground who want to evaluate the season (and start) looking forward to the next.”
Van Nistelrooy says he has told the senior management, who have been the focal point for the supporters’ anger and frustration this season, what he thinks needs to be done, in terms of the squad and structures at the club, but he is in the dark as much as everyone else.
The decision will be made by one man, chairman and owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, known as Khun Top. He rarely speaks publicly beyond his matchday magazine notes, but before the visit of Southampton he did stress in his column there is a plan for moving forward, without expressing what that entails.
“Our future planning begins immediately, including across these remaining four games, where the foundations for next season will be laid,” he wrote.
“There are decisions to be made in a number of areas and discussions required to shape our preparation for 2025-26 and beyond. This will continue in the coming weeks.”
One thing does seem clear — Van Nistelrooy wants the job. In terms of making a case for him to retain his position, that is a first positive.
Khun Top will have the final say on who manages Leicester next season (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
He admits he has learned so much in his five months in charge of Leicester that he is now in the position to understand what is required moving forward. A new manager may have to learn from scratch.
If he stays, the futures of Harry Winks, Jannik Vestergaard and many others will be elsewhere.
He wouldn’t say so publicly, but at times Van Nistelrooy, according to club sources who wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, has been concerned by the lack of commitment and attitude from some in the squad.
He has said he has felt his team has lacked the physical fitness and energy to play the style of fast, aggressive, pressing football he wants. That can only be rectified in a pre-season and through recruitment.
Since relegation, he has looked more to young players, providing a glimpse of the direction Leicester may go in should he stay.
Academy graduates Kasey McAteer and Luke Thomas have come back into the side, although in McAteer’s case injuries to the wingers have given him the opportunity. Likewise, teenage wingers Jeremy Monga, who made his fourth appearance as a sub despite still being only 15 and studying for his GCSEs, and 16-year-old Jake Evans, who made his home debut from the bench, have been blooded.
Monga has been turning up for training still in his school uniform and the pair are so young they cannot wear shirts with the club’s gambling or beer sponsors on, or even change with their adult team-mates for safeguarding reasons.
Evans, a winger, came on for his home debut in place of McAteer (James Holyoak/MB Media/Getty Images)
Van Nistelrooy’s background as a coach has been in developing young players at PSV and, with Leicester likely to have a clearout of the more experienced players and higher earners, that could be valuable.
Financially, sacking a second manager in a season would put a dent in the financial PSR calculation. Keeping Van Nistelrooy would ease the financial situation, but it is not an overriding reason. After five different managers over the past three years, some stability would be welcomed too.
But the key question Khun Top has to ask himself is this: is Van Nistelrooy the right man to take the club forward? Another is: will the disgruntled fans back him?
Khun Top wrote that the planning has begun and, without question, that will include assessing other managerial options. Who is available? Who would want this challenge? Who fits with the club’s vision? He may have someone in mind but Leicester don’t have the luxury of taking their time.
In his pre-match press conference, Van Nistelrooy was calling for clarity and talking about how crucial it is to start the planning for next season now.
After a rare win, which ended the barren home run and provided a second clean sheet of the league season, his tone shifted as he refused to talk about the future too much, emphasising his focus was only on the final three games.
Only one man will truly know what will happen.
(Top photo: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)