Leicester confirm appointment of manager who was sacked by Championship rivals in December

Leicester City have confirmed the appointment of Gary Rowett as their new manager on a deal until the end of the season.

The Foxes were searching for a replacement for Marti Cifuentes, having sacked the Spaniard at the end of January.

Getty

And Rowett will be taking the hot seat at the King Power Stadium with talkSPORT reporting back in January that he was being considered for the role.

“I’m really proud to be the new Leicester City manager and to have the opportunity to work with and lead a really talented group over the coming months,” Rowett said.

“It’s very clear to us all what needs to be achieved between now and the end of the season and the work begins immediately.

“I’m looking forward to building connections with the players, with the staff at the club and with the fans – all of which will be vital to helping us secure the results we need.”

Since sacking Cifuentes, Leicester have been deducted six points and have now dropped into the Championship’s relegation zone.

It means the former Premier League champions are facing the real possibility of dropping down to League One this season.

Leicester are currently third from bottom in the Championship and two points off safety.

But Rowett has been chosen to be the man to try and save them, having impressively kept Oxford United in the Championship last term.

He is signs a short-term deal until the end of the campaign.

Rowett was a free agent after being sacked by Oxford in December, with the U’s sitting 21st in the Championship at the time. They now sit second from bottom in the division and six points off safety.

Getty

Getty

The 51-year-old is a former Leicester player, having featured 57 times for the Foxes between 2000 and 2002.

And he will now be returning to try and save the club from relegation to the third tier for the first time since 2009.

Another former player in Andy King had been in interim charge since Cifuentes’ sacking, leading Leicester for the last four games. King’s side have lost all four of those outings though, being beaten in three straight league matches as well as getting knocked out of the FA Cup.

Rowett on Leicester

Speaking last week, Rowett appeared not to see himself in contention for the Leicester job, predicting an ‘ambitious’ appointment.

“I think they’ll make a change as well, managerial-wise,” he said on Sky Sports. “I think they’ll be really ambitious with their next appointment.

“If they are in the top six, I think it’s a very different appeal to the job.

Getty

“But when you look at their training ground, when you look at the size of the club, I think there’ll be a hell of a lot of managers who’ll be looking at that job thinking, ‘I can get them out of trouble’.

“Then it’s what’s next for that opportunity and I don’t think there are many jobs that come around like that in the Championship.

“That’s why I’m saying I think there’ll be a really ambitious appointment for the next one and I’d expect them to make that quite soon.”

Switching destination

Rowett was also a contender to become the new Blackburn manager, following the sacking of Valerien Ismael.

talkSPORT understands that the experienced Championship boss, who has taken charge of over 400 matches, was one of the options to take over at the Rovers.

But they appointed Michael O’Neill instead and the former Birmingham City, Stoke, Derby and Millwall manager is still available.

Leicester face one of Rowett’s ex-clubs, Stoke, on Saturday lunchtime, before facing a tough trip to Middlesbrough on Tuesday February 24.