Leicester City on verge of appointing Gary Rowett until end of season | OneFootball

Leicester City are close to appointing Gary Rowett as their new manager on a deal to the end of the season after he visited the club’s training base on Wednesday. An announcement is understood to be close, which would put him in charge for this weekend’s trip to Stoke, one of his former clubs.

According to LeicesterMercury.co.uk, the 51-year-old has emerged as the frontrunner and is expected to be appointed until the end of the campaign as City fight to avoid relegation to League One.

City have taken 24 days to replace Marti Cifuentes. Rowett has been out of work since leaving relegation rivals Oxford in December.

He would have 14 games to turn the season around. Rowett brings extensive Championship know-how, with more than 400 matches in charge across Birmingham, Derby, Stoke, Millwall and Oxford.

Fixing a fragile defence is near the top of his in-tray, with City 26 league matches without a clean sheet. His Championship sides have kept one in roughly one of every three games.

Urgency is high. City have taken just one point from their last six games and, combined with a six-point deduction for Profit and Sustainability Rules breaches, have fallen into the bottom three. They are now staring at relegation to League One for just the second time in their history.

Rowett would be returning to the club where he made more than 50 appearances as a right-back in the early noughties.

Source: LeicesterMercury.co.uk