Who was our worst manager and why?

[FoxesWalk]

It’s Taylor, but RVN in second place. 

[sdb]

Glad to see RVN being mentioned. He really was that bad. We've had some shockers but he seemed the most clueless to me. Taylor was terrible and then lots of useless crap that luckily came and went before too much damage was done. I'm hoping no one has mentioned Rodgers, however annoying he may have been! 

[sylofox]

3 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

When you hear Milan was making Holloway play players like N'Gotty against his will it adds a bit of balance to what he was up against. That was another completely avoidable relegation. What a mess of a season.

 

I can't see him ringing up Pearson the season's after and demanding the same. Maybe he learned his lesson. Then let him go so Vichai and Top could have the "world renowned" Sousa.

 

2 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

We were a mess behind the scenes but Holloway had 32 league games and a squad (although limited) that was more than good enough to stay up. He was also quite well backed in the Jan window.

 

Incredible how easy he gets off the hook with some folk. 

As above. I was also told this at the time. They had a few stand up arguments about it infront of staff and players. So I was told.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

32 minutes ago, sylofox said:

 

As above. I was also told this at the time. They had a few stand up arguments about it infront of staff and players. So I was told.

 

Oh right, unmitigated success then

[Bazly]

Without doubt Peter Taylor if only for signing Dennis Wise.

[murphy]

Worst manager in my lifetime is Peter Taylor for spending fortunes, relative to his predecessor, to turn a silk purse into a sow's ear.  Baffling signings, one after another and has now found his level plying his trade at Canvey Island.  His legacy was administration and a lost decade.

 

Least likeable manager, Brendan Rodgers for shamefully going through the motions when he didn't get his way.  You must have a very special talent to win the first FA Cup in our history whilst also being almost universally reviled by the fanbase.

[surrifox]

1 hour ago, FoxesWalk said:

It’s Taylor, but RVN in second place. 

He inherited a great financial situation from MON ( who knew he was leaving and allowed his successor a free run) including the Heskey money . He was unlucky that Matt jones suffered a career ending injury ) but paid 3 times what he was worth) and just bought garbage with the rest and produced a team with no identity despite momentary promise . 
RVN barely qualifies as a manager 

[Guest Electric Yetis]

2 hours ago, Footballwipe said:

Tbh it's probably RvN due to just how much life he sucked out of the club, fans, players and probably his own career. Absolutely hopeless.

 

But a word on Taylor. We gave him the keys to the castle, we have him millions of pounds to refresh what was fast becoming an ageing squad. We gave him the task of replacing our powerhouse striker and teaming him up with a troubled, but a revered striker.

 

We had so, so much opportunity that summer to get it right. European football, money, a solid PL presence. I dunno if he's the most "hindsight" bad manager we had. Sure there were clues (unable to manage Collymore, terrible away record after November, signing Junior bleedin Lewis) but the true scale of his disaster never really kicked in until Wycombe onwards.

 

By the time he'd done and spent another £7.5m on Walker, Scowcroft (4 goals in 34 PL games in 00-01) and Wise and essentially spaffed every penny we gave him up the wall. The fact he never really accepted or recognised the damage he caused, either, is something to hold. We were a team of strong personalities, and we gave the job to someone utterly incapable of managing strong personalities.

 

On Holloway - He came in with a lot of hype and promise (remember the fvcking face masks). This motormouth entertainer who had a half decent track record, and who we fought to get from Plymouth. Weird season, that, no team in the history of the Championship (2004 onwards) has gone down with as many points. We also had the second best defensive record, but the worst scoring record that season. We were useless in attack, and nearly 20% of our goals came in wins at home against Watford & Norwich City.

Add in the 4-1 win away to West Brom and highlights how little we scored aside from those matches.

[Mickyblueeyes]

Taylor but I think if RVN was here for as long as him he would’ve done much worse. The amount players he alienated. Little effort with the fans. He was a horrible choice.

[RumbleFox]

4 hours ago, fox in the sox said:

Taylor didn’t take on a ‘great’ team, they were a very good mid table Premier League side.

I think we were better than that. We finished 8th in MON’s last season right? And we’d won the League Cup twice in 3 years. We also looked better than ever at times that season. We were certainly a “great team” in terms of the history of Leicester City. I’d say that team was “great” generally. Up there with any Leicester team ever and a match for anyone in the league on their day at the time. 

Edited 4 September 2025 by RumbleFox

[DJW1]

For me (born in 1966) it´s probably Bryan Hamilton (1986-7). He inherited a decent team from Gordon Milne and took us down to the then Division 2 and had us in the relegation zone there the following season until he was replaced in December by David Pleat. 

McClintock was our 2nd worse manager.

As commented before, Taylor started very well but it fell apart after the Wycombe game.  Pleat was great in the first half-season but the defence became a shambles and he had to go to prevent relegation to Div 3. 

In a couple of those cases the fans wanted rid of the previous manager (Bloomfield before McClintock and Milne before Hamilton) even though they´d done pretty well.

[foxgas]

2 hours ago, sdb said:

Glad to see RVN being mentioned. He really was that bad. We've had some shockers but he seemed the most clueless to me. Taylor was terrible and then lots of useless crap that luckily came and went before too much damage was done. I'm hoping no one has mentioned Rodgers, however annoying he may have been! 

I can forgive Rogers anything for the FA cup win. Sad we couldn't all be there. My Dad and Grandad went to four finals and never saw a win. At least I have that one up on them in the next life.

[DJW1]

1 minute ago, DJW1 said:

For me (born in 1966) it´s probably Bryan Hamilton (1986-7). He inherited a decent team from Gordon Milne and took us down to the then Division 2 and had us in the relegation zone there the following season until he was replaced in December by David Pleat. 

McClintock was our 2nd worse manager.

As commented before, Taylor started very well but it fell apart after the Wycombe game.  Pleat was great in the first half-season but the defence became a shambles and he had to go to prevent relegation to Div 3. 

In a couple of those cases the fans wanted rid of the previous manager (Bloomfield before McClintock and Milne before Hamilton) even though they´d done pretty well.

To be fair to Hamilton we´d sold Gary Lineker the previous summer for 800,000 (but we replaced him with Tony Sealy for 50,000)

[Mickyblueeyes]

6 minutes ago, RumbleFox said:

I think we were better than that. We finished 8th in MON’s last season right? And we’d won the League Cup twice in 3 years. We also looked better than ever at times that season. We were certainly a “great team” in terms of the history of Leicester City. I’d say that team was “great” generally. Up there with any Leicester team ever and a match for anyone in the league on their day at the time. 

It was a good team who needed the right reinforcements to really kick on. O’Neil if I remember rightly was after Sutton and Wanchope for the Heskey/Cottee replacements. You just know both would’ve suited O’Neil and his style down to a T. Lennon leaving mid season was a hammer blow and Matt Jones, with his injuries didn’t cut it. Rowett and Davidson were ok but the switch in style really showed the shortcomings of the side (he played Savage on the wing for god sake). 
 

He went out and bought a load of players and switched a style that worked very well. When really all he needed to do was make 3,4, 5 good signings and “do a Ranieri” post Pearson. 
 

I think it was Elliott who said O’Neil spoke to him just before he left and said “Matty we go for the top 6 now”. It really is one of the many “what if” moments in a Leicester fans history. 

[Nolucklcfc]

RVN 

[Pita]

For me it’s got to be RVN with his shocking record 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

23 minutes ago, DJW1 said:

To be fair to Hamilton we´d sold Gary Lineker the previous summer for 800,000 (but we replaced him with Tony Sealy for 50,000)

Hamilton bought Steve Moran for a club record £300,000 in 1986. Always felt like he was meant to be Lineker's replacement.

[East Langton Fox]

6 hours ago, Blueman1967 said:

Peter Taylor, l would have said David Pleat, but he was ahead of his time, and didn't have the players 

Pleat started well. I remember the last game of 87/88 season we won at Middlesbrough after finishing the season well. We were chased out of town after that game and half way down the A1 as it spoilt their promotion party .

RVN for me, the only time in all my years when I couldn't wait for the season to end .

[Lesterlad]

For me. 1 RVN 2 Mclintock 3 Taylor 4 Levein. 5 Allen 6 Holloway 7 Pleat 

[BenTheFox]

Brendan Rodgers is one of our most successful managers ever, and at its best it was fabulous under him. However, he is without doubt the most damaging manager this club has had since Peter Taylor. More so than Ian Holloway. Although Holloway took us to our lowest point and had a team good enough to stay up, we'd been circling the drain for a few years. 

 

Rodgers is one of the best and one of the worst managers in our history. It bothers me because it really didn't need to be that way. Had he gone 8 months earlier, he would probably be considered a legend. 

Edited 4 September 2025 by BenTheFox

[murphy]

43 minutes ago, DJW1 said:

To be fair to Hamilton we´d sold Gary Lineker the previous summer for 800,000 (but we replaced him with Tony Sealy for 50,000)

Wasn't it Mark bright? 

 

,I seem to remember first game of the season after selling Lineker, he was back with his Everton side .  We won 3-1, Bright scored two and never did much again for us. 

[Jobyfox]

4 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

Brendan Rodgers is one of our most successful managers ever, and at its best it was fabulous under him. However, he is without doubt the most damaging manager this club has had since Peter Taylor. More so than Ian Holloway. Although Holloway took us to our lowest point and had a ream good enough to stay up, we'd been circling the drain for a few years. 

 

Rodgers is one of the best and one of the worst managers in our history. It bothers me because it really didn't need to be that way. Had he gone 8 months earlier, he would probably be considered a legend. 

That’s very true. I’m always a bit conflicted when I remember our time under Rodgers. 
 

He was actually a good coach and there is no doubt he knew how to set a team up. The cup win was an incredible high. But his decision making in his final season was akin to criminal negligence. 
 

It’s a difficult one 

[murphy]

8 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

Brendan Rodgers is one of our most successful managers ever, and at its best it was fabulous under him. However, he is without doubt the most damaging manager this club has had since Peter Taylor. More so than Ian Holloway. Although Holloway took us to our lowest point and had a ream good enough to stay up, we'd been circling the drain for a few years. 

 

Rodgers is one of the best and one of the worst managers in our history. It bothers me because it really didn't need to be that way. Had he gone 8 months earlier, he would probably be considered a legend. 

And we don't yet know the full extent of the damage caused by that wholly avoidable 2023 relegation as we are still living through it. 

[adejo92]

RVN

[Blueman1967]

33 minutes ago, East Langton Fox said:

Pleat started well. I remember the last game of 87/88 season we won at Middlesbrough after finishing the season well. We were chased out of town after that game and half way down the A1 as it spoilt their promotion party .

RVN for me, the only time in all my years when I couldn't wait for the season to end .

Yes remember the Boro game that we stop them from going up, won 2-1, RVN got a bad team, but made it worst, Peter Taylor, made a good team into bad one