Leicester City in need of replacements after ‘exceptional’ coach leaves

Leicester City are now without a manager for their three leading teams with Under-21s boss Ben Petty leaving to become assistant manager at Birmingham City.

netsport.uk are already on the hunt for new men’s and women’s first-team managers and will now need somebody to lead their development squad too after Petty ended his eight-year association with the club. He’s heading to St Andrew’s, where he will be number two to Brendan Rodgers’ City assistant Chris Davies, who is embarking on his first step as a head coach.

Petty joined City from Aston Villa in 2016 as assistant to Steve Beaglehole at Under-21 level, taking over the main job in 2021. While City’s Under-21s haven’t often challenged at the top of the Premier League 2 table in that time, plenty of players have graduated from the development squad to the senior team, including the likes of Ben Nelson, Kasey McAteer, Wanya Marcal, Will Alves, and Sammy Braybrooke.

City said: “Ben leaves with the thanks of everyone at Leicester City for his contribution to the Club’s Development Pathway over the last eight years and best wishes for the next step in his career.”

Petty will be aiming to help Birmingham back to the Championship after their relegation last season. Davies said Petty is exactly the right character to help the Blues achieve their aims.

“Firstly, Ben is an exceptional coach and his record of developing and improving players, speaks for itself,” Davies told Birmingham’s official website. “Equally as important to me, is that he is exactly the type of character who will help bring success to the club. His work ethic, standards and values reflect what I believe in and what we want to add to the culture here.”

It gives City one more position to fill as they head into the new campaign. They have been seeking a new men’s first-team manager for a fortnight since Enzo Maresca left for Chelsea, with Graham Potter, Carlos Corberan, and Steve Cooper the leading candidates.

City Women are also without a manager. Interim boss Jennifer Foster said at the end of the WSL season that she would not continue in the main role going into the new campaign.