- Lineker lobbied the board, but the idea was seen as ‘a step too far’ by the Foxes
- The team got off to a fast start in the championship under Enzo Maresca
- Listen to the latest episode of the Mail Sport podcast ‘It all begins!’
Gary Lineker suggested Chelsea Women’s coach Emma Hayes to the Leicester board at the end of last season to take over the relegated club.
The former player and loyal Foxes fan maintains strong ties with the club, which fell back to the Championship for the first time since promotion in 2014.
Leicester sacked Brendan Rodgers after a string of poor results in April and appointed former Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith on an interim basis in the hope of steering the club to safety.
But Smith failed to pull off a major escape from the relegation zone, with the Foxes finishing in 18th place with just 34 points.
The club later appointed former Manchester City assistant coach Enzo Maresca ahead of the start of their 2023/24 season, but Lineker revealed he lobbied for one candidate in particular before his appointment.
Emma Hayes was mentioned by long-time fan Gary Lineker as a potential successor to Brendan Rodgers at Leicester
The pundit took advantage of the added bonus of massive publicity and Hayes’ coaching skills
“It’s interesting, I don’t know if I’ve told you before, but in the summer when Leicester were looking for a new manager, I contacted the club with a little idea I had,” says Lineker on his website. Rest is football podcast,” which was for them to go for Emma Hayes from Chelsea.
‘She’s great, completely legit, but imagine being the first major football club with a woman as coach. It would have generated enormous amounts of publicity, especially at a time when the club had gone to the Championship.
‘You would have sold all your season tickets. It’s not a stunt at all, although in a way it would be a huge PR opportunity.
“They got back to me and said it’s probably a step too far at this stage.”
Hayes’ huge success at Chelsea – where she won four consecutive Women’s Super League titles, and six overall, as well as five FA Cups – has seen her linked with a number of moves into coaching men’s football.
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The 46-year-old has previously brushed aside rumors of links with AFC Wimbledon and Queens Park Rangers and was named by fellow Blue Joe Cole as the women’s coach most likely to lead a top men’s team in 2021.
But Hayes does not want to see her success at Chelsea reduced to a footnote on the way to working with a men’s side, and has been quick to reiterate her stance that she is only interested in working with elite athletes – of both genders.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour in August, the legendary manager said: ‘It’s the ongoing question of when I’m going to go to the men’s game. Women’s football is at a high level and I work with world-class athletes.
‘I don’t mean to speak negatively about any men’s team or club, but the reality is that I already coach top players and I think it’s important to see that in itself, rather than it being a stepping stone to something.’
Hayes (centre) has coached Chelsea since 2012 and oversees more than a decade of success
Lineker (pictured during a match at Leicester in March 2023) is undoubtedly encouraged by the Foxes’ fast start in the Championship
When linked with AFC Wimbledon in 2021, Hayes claimed the link was an ‘insult’ to women’s football and that the club ‘couldn’t afford her’, before later clarifying her comments.
“I sincerely hope that AFC Wimbledon find the right candidate for their football club,” Hayes said at the time.
‘The whole point about them not being able to pay me has nothing to do with money and everything to do with the fact that I have the best job in the world.
‘No amount of money will convince me of that.