Dean Smith gives his first interview after being appointed new Leicester manager

Dean Smith gives his first interview after being appointed as the new Leicester City manager, confirmed late on Monday night.

The 52 year old was named the new Foxes boss for the remainder of the season, having left Norwich earlier this season after previous stints at Aston Villa and Brentford.

After Saturday’s defeat at home by Bournemouth, Leicester now find themselves in serious trouble sitting in the Premier League relegation zone. They are only two points away from safety and have eight games remaining.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dean Smith as the Club’s First Team Manager until the end of the 22/23 season 🔷

— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 10, 2023

Smith’s first game as Leicester manager is Saturday against Premier League champions Manchester City.

Smith’s assistant manager, Craig Shakespeare, also returns to King Power Stadium.

Claudio Ranieri had Shakespeare as part of his backroom team that won Leicester the Premier League title in 2016. Later, he succeeded the Italian as manager.

Smith’s coaching team also includes John Terry, an ex-England captain who was coached at Aston Villa. Mike Stowell and Adam Sadler are the club’s current first teams coaches.

Smith’s appointment means that five interim managers are now in place at Premier League clubs: Frank Lampard at Chelsea and Cristian Stellini at Tottenham, Ruben Selles at Southampton and Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace will be in place until the summer. Leeds boss Javi Gracia is on a “flexible contract”.

This season, there were 13 managerial changes in Premier League – three more than any other campaign – and 11 of those were sackings.

CLUB STATEMENT:

Leicester City Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Dean Smith as the Club’s First Team Manager until the end of the 2022/23 season.

The former Norwich City, Aston Villa and Brentford manager will take charge of First Team training from Tuesday in preparation for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Manchester City.

Smith brings a wealth of managerial experience and expertise to the role and, along with his coaching team, will be tasked with helping the Football Club retain its Premier League status as we head into the final eight games of the current season.

Dean’s appointment will see the return of Craig Shakespeare to the Leicester City dugout. An assistant under both Nigel Pearson and Claudio Ranieri in previous spells with the Foxes, Craig himself led the Club in 2017, successfully seeing off the threat of relegation and leading us to a UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final.

Dean’s coaching line-up will also include former England captain John Terry, who served under Dean’s management as a coach at Aston Villa, along with City’s current First Team Coaches Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell.

Dean Smith said: “I’m really happy to have the opportunity to lead the team during these final weeks of the season. The challenge in front of us is clear, but it’s one myself and my coaching team have experienced before and, with the quality in this squad and the number of games remaining, it’s very much achievable.

“Our first job is to rebuild confidence and instil belief in the team and I’m looking forward to getting to work with the players this week. Saturday will be a big test, but it’s the kind of occasion that reminds us all what it means to be a Premier League club, competing on the biggest stages against the best players in the world. I know we’ll be well supported by our travelling fans. We have to connect with that and give them a performance they can be proud of. We go there positive, looking for points.”

Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “On behalf of everyone at Leicester City, I’d like to offer Dean a warm welcome to the Football Club. His leadership, coaching and motivational qualities will be vital assets for us in the coming eight games as we fight to secure our Premier League status.

“We’ve endured a challenging season, but I have no doubt that we have the quality in our squad to win this fight. Dean’s experience will be key to unlocking that potential, helping the team rediscover its confidence and channelling the support of our fans, who will be so important during these final eight games. Their support has been the foundation of everything we’ve achieved in these last 13 years and it will play a vital role once more in this crucial moment in our history. This is a fight we can win, together.

“I ask you to support the team, to fight with them for every goal, to inspire them to create a legacy again for this Club. Every fan, every player, all our staff, we need to be behind the team and our new management team. Together we can find success this season.”

Dean’s reputation as a progressive coach and man manager has been built over a 12-year managerial career in which he has taken charge of nearly 600 games across spells with Walsall, Brentford, Aston Villa and Norwich City. In the Premier League, having guided Villa to promotion during his first season at the club, he led a successful late charge for survival in 2020 in which Villa recovered from being four points from safety with three games to play.

Dean will meet the First Team squad and take training at Seagrave on Tuesday and will be introduced to the media later this week ahead of Saturday’s trip to Etihad Stadium.

Twitter users reacted as Dean Smith gives his first interview after being appointed as the new Leicester manager…

@LoxM98: I expect Dean Smith to keep the job even if we go down, so long as there is at least a slight improvement in performances. I think we might win one or two games, which will see him keep the job, despite it not being enough to keep us in the Premier League. #lcfc

@jhandford11: Another phase for #LCFC begins. Not everyone will be happy. Some will just be glad to crack on. Dean Smith will not be Leicesters manager forever , but for now he is. Let’s roll with it. Who knows what will happen. We now have a better chance of staying up than we did on Sat 🦊

@B6_Dave: Genuinely hope Dean Smith keeps Leicester in the premier league. A top bloke who gave us something a lot of fans will never ever get to experience. I’ll always be grateful for what he did at Villa and wish him all the best at Leicester. 🦁 #avfc #utv #LCFC

@hueylad: The thing with the whole #lcfc thing is, it is fixable. We have good players. We’re capable of winning games in streaks, we’ve done it this season, against good sides. I do wonder though whether ultimately, the Villa and Bournemouth games, doing more of the same, will cost us.

@VillaAstonNews: Good appointment, got villa into the prem. Kept us up first season in impossible circumstances and then sustained us. Norwich was always a tough job with that squad but looking at Leicesters it’s completely different. This team definitely has the players to comfortably stay up.

@jenniferann1983: Got to get behind him (& Shakespeare / Terry) – although our form is terrible we are still in touching distance of safety – let’s not forget that! 🦊 #lcfc

@sparky__26: Odd as it sounds I think smiths only chance of keeping the job is if we go down, knowing our board he’d have been given a 3 year deal regardless if he was to keep it if we stayed up. If he keeps us up then he deserves it anyway IMO #LCFC

@sparky__26: The fact he’s bought along shakey is a bonus but personally think the @JohnTerry26 appointment is the winner. Brings a whole new mentality to that dressing room #lcfc

@ToonMouthTyne: What has happened to this club in recent years? You’ve gone from winning the PL and FA Cup with decent managers like Ranieri and Rodgers…. to hardly investing a penny, being in relegation battles and appointing an extremely limited manager who failed at Villa and Norwich.

@Parmwonder: Initially shocked… but after thinking, happy to hear #lcfc appointed Dean Smith as Manager, along with Shakey & Terry as coaches. Should lift the squad massively for these last 8 games. COYF! 🦊

@tbrodie_96: Leicester really looked at Smith’s time at Norwich attempting to keep us in the PL and thought ‘Yeah we’ll have some of that’. Yes I know, Leicester’s squad are much better so a bit more chance but Smith’s agent has worked wonders! #ncfc #lcfc

@scholesleics: It goes from bad to worse.

@smudgerfox: You couldn’t make it up! A guy that, not only couldn’t keep Norwich up, but was an abject failure with them in the championship too and was sacked for being so! Nice one, that should inspire the players!!

@MotheiQuirk: Preparing for the championship already then?

@bowyeah: We used to be the envy of most teams outside the big 6. Now we’re appointing managers who failed in the championship and coaches we’ve already sacked, after hanging on to a manager who clearly needed the sack for months, if not years. An embarrassing club to support right now.

@markhallam9: Sure there is a barrel somewhere near Seagrave we could start scraping that as well. Get an interim and put in place a clear Strategy for rebuilding. These just sound like panic appointments