Leicestershire

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Gary Rowett has already seen enough to believe his Leicester side can avoid relegation from the Championship.

The Foxes drew 1-1 with title-chasing Middlesbrough and have drawn both their matches since Rowett's recent arrival as boss.

Their performances this season have attracted criticism, but Rowett likes what he has seen so far.

"I can only judge them on what I see, and what I've seen is a group of players that are desperate to improve the situation they're in - desperate to do better in the league," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We've got some really talented players who have shown me in the two games that they can also play with great diligence, do the work-rate, and help each other to track runners and defend the box.

"They've shown a really good mentality so far, but we've got to keep it like that. It's just the start, but it's quite a pleasing start.

"It's a big point. You have to respect the fact that Middlesbrough are where we want to be, and perhaps were expected to be, but we're not - and there are reasons for that."

Caleb Okoli gave Leicester a shock lead but gave the ball away in the build-up to the hosts' equaliser just before the interval.

But they continued to cause Boro problems in the second half.

"I thought we were defensively very good for the most part. We worked a lot on stopping them from playing through us," said Rowett.

"We switched off probably two or three times. One was for their goal and that was a disappointment. Caleb made a mistake but reacted well to it.

"We maybe lost a bit of momentum, but then finished the stronger team. So there was lots to like about the performance."

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

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Leicester are poised to appoint James McCarron, director of player development at the City Group - the company overseeing Manchester City among other clubs - as their new sporting director.

The former Sunderland head of performance is due to start next month in a newly created position at the Championship strugglers.

McCarron had also worked at the Premier League, as elite performance manager, and was sporting director at Belgium club Lommel, another side under the umbrella of Manchester City's owners, between 2021 and 2025.

The Foxes are restructuring their hierarchy with McCarron set to work alongside director of football Jon Rudkin.

"The structure will change," owner Khun Top told BBC Radio Leicester last month.

"He [Rudkin] will go up above the sporting director, and the sporting director will take care of more of the day-to-day, work more on strategy and what we should play [like], what identity, what players should be brought in, and work with the young ones in the academy."

McCarron will arrive after Leicester were docked six points for breaching the English Football League's financial rules, although the club have appealed.

The deduction has put them in danger of relegation to League One - 10 years after winning the Premier League title.

The Foxes appointed Gary Rowett as their manager until the end of the season last week after the sacking of Marti Cifuentes.

Leicester drew 2-2 at Stoke in Rowett's first game in charge on Saturday, leaving them third bottom of the Championship, and they travel to promotion-chasing Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

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We asked you for your thoughts on Gary Rowett as the new Leicester City boss before he took charge of his first match on Saturday.

The outcome? Well, much like the result against Stoke at the weekend, it's a mixed bag.

Here is some of what you had to say:

James: Gary will be more pragmatic and hopefully make us more solid defensively, a key priority given the amount we have conceded this season.

We need a bit of a drill master and Marti was not really able to get the full buy-in and commitment from certain players. Some players in the squad want to dictate when and where they play and are on Premier League salaries. First and foremost the 11 on the pitch need to show desire, hunger and commitment.

Hopefully, Gary will instil a bit of grit and deliver some home truths, but time will tell if it works out. We are just gifting too many goals at the minute and some players look totally lost and beat.

It's going to be a tough slog to the end of the season, make no mistake we are absolutely in a dogfight and League One is beckoning.

Gary: Despite some negativity, I think Rowett is a good appointment. We clearly need to shore things up at the back; so an ex-defender is perhaps a good start. But why didn't this happen three weeks ago?

Harrison: I think this appointment clearly shows what Leicester City has become. Another manager who again doesn't give you confidence that they will survive relegation.

The club is in a downward spiral with players on ridiculous salaries and not performing. No fight for the shirt and it shows.

Maybe we should get relegated to League One before the ownership take a reality check. Hope I'm proved wrong, but this could be a long dogfight towards the end of the season.

David: He's not Russell Martin. That's the best I can say about the appointment.

Rich: From what I've heard, the new manager is excellent at shoring up a defence and playing quick, counter-attacking football. He also demands high standards from players. If that's true, it's exactly what we need.

Gary: No disrespect to Rowett, but his appointment shows just how far the mighty has fallen. Leicester were linked with high-profile and successful managers in the past. This guy has been sacked by Stoke, Millwall and Oxford - very inspiring... NOT.

Ash: When you've got the likes of Dyche, Frank and Hasenhuttl on the market, it makes absolutely zero sense why they have gone for Rowett. I hope I am wrong and I eat my words, but sadly I feel like I will be eating them and having dessert.

Phil: I feel like it's a sensible decision, someone who knows the division well and has a track record of organising defensively.

A good thing that it's a short-term appointment too, after the problems we've had with giving managers long and massively lucrative deals and then finding it tricky to part company.

The appointment suggests that some lessons have been learned by the hierarchy, whether it's the appointment that'll get us out of our current predicament, only time will tell…

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Middlesbrough will seek to get back to winning ways as they welcome beleaguered Leicester to the Riverside on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

Boro followed-up their defeat at Championship leaders Coventry with a goalless draw at home to second-bottom Oxford United on Saturday to lie three points behind the Sky Blues at the summit, though with a six-point advantage over third-placed Millwall.

The Foxes remain in the bottom-three, a point adrift of West Brom, after being pegged back to draw 2-2 at Stoke on Saturday, though it ended a run of four straight league defeats.

City remain winless in seven Championship games on the road since early December, however.

• Having been winless in 14 league games against Leicester between 2003 and 2017 (D8 L6), Middlesbrough have now won two of their past three against the Foxes (D1).

• Leicester have only lost two of their 13 league games against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium (W6 D5), though one of these was their most recent visit in November 2023.

• Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their past five league games against Leicester (W2 D3), last having a longer run between 1930 and 1934 (9 games).

• Middlesbrough have alternated between defeat (2) and victory (2) in their past four midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games, beating Stoke City 2-1 last time out.

• Leicester are winless in their past 12 midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D4 L8), alternating between a draw and a defeat in their eight in the Championship this season.

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Boss Gary Rowett said improving defensively will be key to steering Leicester City away from the Championship relegation zone.

The Foxes came from behind to lead Stoke City with two minutes left, but conceded to draw 2-2.

"The players are devastated because they want to win games of football," Rowett told BBC Radio Leicester.

"It's very easy to judge and label players, but sometimes you have to just see what they're about.

"At the moment, they've been really receptive to the ideas. They want to get out of the position they are in. They all recognise that it's not acceptable to be in a position we're in with the quality that we've got.

"But it's about doing it on the pitch. We can talk about it till we're blue in the face, but it's about showing it. And, in the second half, they did.

"We've got some really, really good players. But we need to do is find a really nice defensive base so that those players in the forward areas haven't got to score two, three, four goals every game to go and win it. We certainly have to be a little bit more solid."