In five weeks, it all begins again for Leicester City. The season is over, but there’s very little time for rest behind the scenes at the club.
Come June 30, City’s non-internationals will be returning to Seagrave for pre-season and to begin six weeks of preparation for the first Championship game of the campaign.
Before then, there’s a lot to get done. Here’s a rundown of the key tasks for the board.
Make manager decision
This is clearly the most important job at hand because everything else is informed by it. Specifics around transfers and sales should be heavily influenced by the manager leading the club.
If it’s going to be Ruud van Nistelrooy, which seems unlikely given the silence over his future in recent weeks, then the club need to acknowledge that.
While nothing would change over his contract, if it’s not formally announced that the Dutchman will be remaining in charge, then fans will be left to think the club are still in limbo.
If van Nistelrooy is not going to leave, as seems more likely, then that call needs to be made sooner rather than later.
That’s especially if Russell Martin is the man coming in. Speculation is rife that the former Southampton boss is the man most likely to take over, and fans have already made clear how they would feel about such an appointment.
Martin would be starting on the backfoot as far as his relationship with supporters goes, and would need as much time as possible to win them around before the competitive campaign begins.
Who’s staying, who’s going?
The last time they City were relegated, 13 senior players left either permanently or on loan. A similar number of departures is not out of the question this summer.
Better-informed decisions can be made over the squad once a manager is in place, but City can still make calls before then.
A number of players will need to be sold irrespective of who’s in charge as City will need to raise cash through transfers. Deciding which players are in that bracket, and how much the asking price is, will be one part of the job.
Then it’s about figuring out which players are willing to stay and which would prefer to leave.
It’s important to know because it’s not ideal to have players around who would rather be elsewhere, and because who stays and who goes will inform which positions the club need to target in the transfer market.
The recruitment team need to know which positions they're focusing on to ensure they thoroughly scout for potential signings.
But finding out who wants to leave is not the be all and end all, as players will change their minds. Enzo Maresca claimed there were six players who told him they wanted to leave City early in pre-season but then retracted that request once they had started training under the Italian.
Make sales before June 30
If City are not in PSR trouble for the 2024/25 season, they’re certainly close to the wire, hence their limited spending in the January transfer window.
With the 2023/24 case now set to stretch into next term, potentially leading to a points deduction, City can’t risk receiving a second punishment in the same campaign, as would be the case if they’re in breach for the current financial year.
That might mean making sales before the June 30 deadline to ward off a second run-in with the authorities.
A couple of key signings
It would be unrealistic to expect City to have all of their transfer business wrapped up before pre-season begins as they may need to wait for dominoes to fall elsewhere for first-choice targets to become available.
But if there are a couple of key recruits through the door, players who are expected to be regular starters, then that will help the team’s development run more smoothly through pre-season.
Contracts for Monga, Evans
It’s excellent news that contracts are getting closer for Jeremy Monga and Jake Evans, especially Monga after all of the transfer speculation around his future.
It would be nice to have those deals signed and announced ready for pre-season, so that the pair can get on with building towards their potential.
Communicate strategy with fans
This is not integral, as actions speak louder than words, but it would be gratefully received and it would help smooth over the relationship with disgruntled supporters.
City’s relegation and the next steps have been acknowledged just once by the club’s senior management so far, by the chairman in his programme notes a few weeks ago.
There was talk of decisions needing to be made and lessons needing to be learned, but no specifics were given.
If Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha, director of football Jon Rudkin and chief executive Susan Whelan were to address and give details on where they feel the club need to improve to get back into the Premier League and stay there, and outline how they plan to do it, it would deserve to go some way to mending the relationship with supporters.
There would be a balance to strike in keeping fans informed but not giving too many secrets away, and of course they would struggle to please everyone, but it would be easier for supporters to get behind the vision if they knew exactly what it was.
Which do you feel are the most important tasks? Click HERE to have your say.
Get your special Jamie Vardy edition of the Leicester Mercury
Jamie Vardy souvenir edition of the Leicester Mercury
It was certainly a fairytale ending to Jamie Vardy's Leicester City career - netting his 200th goal in his final match for the club.
To celebrate, we are launching a this special edition of the Leicester Mercury where we look back at the striker's amazing career - his journey from non-league to England international, his greatest goals and where he stands in the Foxes' list of all-time greats.
We also revisit the trophy-winning campaigns - the 2021 FA Cup and, of course, the 2016 Premier League title.
And there are plenty of tributes from those who played with him, against him and worked with him.
Jamie Vardy, it's certainly been a party!
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