Important Lessons: With 42 permanent managers, Leicester City has a chequered managerial past. With a 51.4% win rate, Nigel Pearson has the best record.
Enzo Maresca, the current manager, has had a great start, winning 8 of his first 9 games.
Jimmy Bloomfield, Craig Levein, Bryan Hamilton, Ian Holloway, Dave Bassett, and Frank McLintock are the six Foxes managers with the lowest victory %.
In the club’s history, Leicester City has had 42 permanent managers, and it’s fair to say that some of them have had mixed results.
Power Stadium, starting the most remarkable nine-year stretch in Leicester history by guiding them from League One to the Championship and then winning the Championship title in his second stint.
With 8 victories from his first 9 competitive games as manager, current manager Enzo Maresca is off to a great start and will be trying to repeat that success this season. The number is being turned on its head, though, as we examine the six Foxes managers with the lowest win %.
The former Leyton Orient manager joined the Foxes in 1971 and led them to the Charity Shield victory that season. He also led the team to the FA Cup semifinals in 1973–74 and as high as seventh position in 1975–76.
Bloomfield managed 285 games in total, winning 85 of them. He had 104 draws, which decreased his overall win rate to 29.82%.
After Micky Adams left the club following its relegation from the Premier League, Leicester was ranked 14th in the Championship when the Scot came at the King Power in November 2004.
Levein would depart the club just 14 months later, on January 25, 2006, when the Foxes found themselves in the relegation zone. However, he was unable to turn around the team’s fortunes. Levein had a win percentage of just 28.57% and only 20 victories out of 75 games.
After managing Wigan Athletic in the Third Division for a successful period, Hamilton was appointed manager of Leicester City in June 1986.
Leicester was relegated from the First Division with 42 points from as many games during the Northern Irishman’s sole season in command in the East Midlands. He felt the move up in levels to be far too high. Only 13 of his 46 games across all competitions would end in victories for him, giving him a victory percentage of 28.26%.
The charismatic Bristolian follows, but Ian Holloway had a forgettable 32-game tenure at the King Power Stadium after moving from Plymouth Argyle.
Despite becoming the first Foxes manager in over 50 years to win his first game in charge, a 2-0 success against Bristol City, Holloway oversaw Leicester’s dismal end to the 2007/08 season which resulted in a first third tier campaign in club history.
With 52 points, one fewer than neighboring rivals Coventry City, Leicester was demoted.
Although Bassett had a lengthy management career and has coached numerous teams, it is best for everyone to forget about his time at Leicester.
After taking over in October 2001, Bassett would only serve as manager for a short time—only until the following April—winning just three Premier League games overall, with no victories from the first of December to the thirty-first of March.
His final match in charge was a 1-0 home loss to Manchester United on April 6, 2002, which sealed relegation. Bassett then became Director of Football, passing management duties to Micky Adams. From his 28 games, he would finish with a win percentage of just 14.29%.
Frank McLintock, who oversaw the Foxes from June 1977 to April 1978, has the lowest victory % in club history with just 5 victories from 40 contests.
The Scot returned to Leicester where he began his playing career in an attempt to succeed Jimmy Bloomfield but was unsuccessful.
After defeating West Ham 1-0 in his first home game on August 24, the Foxes won just one game from that point until February 25. This left the team with the daunting challenge of avoiding relegation.
With relegation all but assured, McLintock would step down in April 1978, finishing with a meager victory percentage of just 12.5
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