Friday 28 October 2011

Foxes look to Upton Park as rumour mill turns

Leicester City have reportedly approached Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman in their search for a new manager, according to Sky Sports.

And whilst Freedman has attracted the Foxes' Thai owners, Reading's Brian McDermott has rules himself out of contention for the job. The Heston Blumenthal-lookalike has impressed many after leading the Royals to the play-off final last year, with the Madejski Stadium-based club currently on an impressive seven-game unbeaten streak in the Championship.

"Leicester haven't rung me," McDermott said to the Reading Post, "I've been here 11 years now and until someone tells me anything different, this is where I am."

Steve Claridge has backed Martin O'Neill as the next Leicester City manager. Odds of O'Neill being appointed have fallen after a rumour that he was meeting with the club's owners in an exclusive Sutton Coldfield hotel failed to come true, but the Ulsterman remains a popular choice amongst the fans. However, Lee Clark (7/4) - who ruled himself out of contention on Wednesday -  Gordon Strachan (3/1), Mark Hughes (7/2), Billy Davies (6/1) and Karl Robinson (8/1) are all now being offered at shorter odds than O'Neill (9/1) at Sky Bet.

Leicester City visit West Ham United tomorrow and Hammers' boss Sam Allardyce is apprehensive of coming up against a backlash from the managerless Foxes.

"I hope it doesn't affect them in a good way," said Allardyce, "I hope it affects them in a negative way because most of the players that will be playing Sven will have bought to the club."

The Hammers boss also commented on the sacking of Eriksson: "The problem with that is you go out and bring in players and it's such a difficult job to produce results until you get to know the players and you build up team spirit. If you've got bigger purse strings you are expected to get to the top of the league and Leicester have probably spent more than anyone else in this division.

"It's a results-driven industry these days, and results have to come quickly," he added.

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