There hasn’t been a more dramatic relegation from the Premier League in recent years than Leicester City’s in 2022/23.

After several high-quality top-flight campaigns, beginning with their remarkable title-winning season under Claudio Ranieri in 2015/16, the Foxes were touted as the next side poised to shatter the mould and dethrone one of the traditional ‘Big Six’ teams.

Under Brendan Rodgers, Leicester finished fifth in consecutive Premier League campaigns from 2019 to 2021, just missing out on UEFA Champions League qualification. They also won the FA Cup for the first time in 2020/21 and reached the Conference League semi-finals the following year.

As a result, it came as a complete surprise when they were demoted 12 months after their European semi-final appearance. Rodgers supervised a disastrous first three-quarters of the season, and despite a couple of wins under Dean Smith, the Foxes finished two points behind safety.

Leicester were back in the Championship for the first time in a decade, something that seemed impossible just a few years ago.

Gary Lineker outlined who he thought should have headed Leicester City into the 2023-24 season.

Gary Lineker is undoubtedly the most iconic Leicester personality in recent years. The iconic former frontman and broadcaster began his career at his hometown club and spent eight years there before joining Everton in 1985.

The 65-year-old is a well-known Foxes fan, and he, like many others linked with the club, had hoped for a quick rebuild and return to the Premier League in the 2023-24 season.

That began with the hiring of a new manager, as Dean Smith left the dugout that summer. Leicester hired former Manchester City assistant Enzo Maresca, although Lineker suggested US women’s national team manager Emma Hayes to the club before the Italian was hired.

Hayes was nearing the end of her illustrious 12-year tenure as Chelsea’s women’s manager, during which time she won seven WSL titles.

Lineker introduced the 49-year-old on his Netflix show, The Rest is Football, and shared how he recommended her to then-CEO Susan Whelan.”I’m going to tell you something now that I’ve never really told many people,” he said on the show. “When Leicester got relegated for the first time about four years ago, I called Susan Whelan,

who was then-CEO of Leicester, but she’s no longer there, one of the many mistakes Leicester have made.”I recommended Emma Hayes as Leicester’s coach.I was going for numerous reasons. “Obviously, she’s a brilliant coach, so it’s not some kind of PR stunt. PR-wise,

I think it would have been brilliant: the first female manager of a professional men’s team in our country.”And I believe we had the players you would have done well with. And she responded, ‘I think that’s a really fantastic concept, but I’m not sure the owners are ready to take that step yet.

Hayes responded by admitting that she is “very, very happy in the women’s game,” and that she is used to coaching guys, as around half of her staff is male.

However, it raises the question of why the club’s higher-ups were not ready to “make that step,” and the 49-year-old indicated that she is not the ideal person to answer that question, but rather the owners who decide to select managers.

Leicester City has to get back on track under Russell Martin next season.

In the end, whether or not you think Emma Hayes would have been a good fit at the King Power Stadium three years ago, the decision to hire Enzo Maresca was sound.

Many detractors believe the Italian could have kept Leicester in the Premier League if Chelsea had not signed him the year after winning the Championship in his initial season with the Foxes.

What can also be accepted is that Leicester’s decisions after Maresca’s departure have been terrible, both on the field (overspending on players who couldn’t make the grade) and off it (board reshuffles and managerial hiring).

The Foxes are now preparing for only their second season below the second division, with their fifth manager in the span of two years since the now-Manchester City coach left.

The man in charge ahead of the League Russell Martin is one of the returning players, and it is up to him to orchestrate a quick recovery and guarantee that a once-European-level team regains its footing as quickly as possible.