With relegation to the Championship confirmed on the final day of the Premier League season, Leicester City know that they have a big summer ahead of them when it comes to preparing for life in the second tier.
With just 68 days until the new EFL season kicks off, it is imperative that the Leicester hierarchy move quickly to give the club the best possible chance of going straight back up.
The opening of the summer transfer window is itself less than two weeks away and with the inevitable mass exodus, The Foxes will need to sign a lot of players.
When you throw in the pre-season tour of Thailand that is set to end with a game against Liverpool just six days before the EFL Championship season begins, getting the managerial appointment right is crucial but getting it right quickly is also just as important.
In this article, we take a look at five possible managers Leicester City could appoint, some who are more likely than others, as Leicester look to bounce back at the first attempt. It is well known that the clubs plan has been to offer Graham Potter the job this summer but with the club having been relegated, we have not included him in this list as it is unclear if he would be open to dropping down a level.
Dean Smith - Leicester City interim manager
By the time Dean Smith was brought in to replace Brendan Rodgers with just eight games left of the Premier League season, the rot had already well and truly set in with the Leicester City side.
Yet despite being able to lift the mood of the squad, the work of Smith, John Terry and Leicester icon Craig Shakespeare didn't have the desired impact in terms of results.
Even though Smith started and ended with 2-1 home wins against Wolves and West Ham respectively, his failure to beat Leeds and Everton and an embarrassing first half collapse at Fulham resulted in a failure of Dean Smith's objectives.
However, there are very few people who lay the blame of relegation at Dean Smith's door and if the Leicester hierarchy are after some stability and choose to stick rather than twist they may give Dean Smith the job full time.
The former Walsall and Brentford boss does have experience of getting teams promoted from the Championship when he came in mid season to Aston Villa and took them on a club record ten wins in a row to break into the play offs, beating Derby County in the final at Wembley.
And while he never quite never made it into the play offs during his time at Brentford, his side was known as the 'Entertainers of the Division' as they played nice football and were good to watch.
Smith's most recent spell in the Championship is probably what lives most in the memory of supporters when he was sacked from Norwich due to his poor relationship with supporters. However, when he was sacked, Norwich were fifth in the league and after his departure they slipped down the table and ended the year in 13th.
Despite having a mixed record in the second division, Smith may find himself in with a chance of the job, as he knows the club and the players and he may just benefit as the current incumbent in getting the job full time.
Jon Dahl Tomasson - Blackburn Rovers manager
Blackburn Rovers manager Jon Dahl Tomasson will be well known to Leicester City fans after Blackburn went to the King Power Stadium in the last 16 of the FA Cup in February and comprehensively beat the Premier League side 2-1.
In reality, the scoreline flattered Leicester as they easily could have lost by more than just the one goal as Blackburn dominated the game.
Last season, in what was his first at Blackburn, the Danish manager reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup before just missing out on the play offs on goal difference on the final day.
Before joining the Lancashire club, the 46-year-old manager was manager at Malmo in Sweden for two years where he won the league in his first season. In his second season, Tomasson guided them to the group stages of the Champions League having won in four qualifying rounds to get there including against Rangers whilst once again winning the league.
Across his whole time as a manager, Tomasson has an impressive 47% win percentage and it is likely that Blackburn will be fighting for the play offs again next season and will be one of the sides rivalling Leicester for promotion to the Premier League.
Tomasson is bound to have learnt a lot this year from missing out on the play offs on goal difference and combined with his experience of winning leagues at Malmo, does that make him the ideal man to guide Leicester to promotion next season?
Ruud Van Nistelrooy - Unemployed
Premier League legend Ruud Van Nistelrooy is not a name we are used to seeing linked with vacant managerial jobs but over in the Netherlands he has quietly been gaining coaching experience.
Van Nistelrooy has more than five years experience in two different spells as Assistant Manager of the Netherlands nation team. Then in March 2022, Ruud became the new Head Coach at PSV Eindhoven and last summer he was rewarded with a new three year deal there.
This year he won both the Johan Cruyff shield and the KNVB cup before sensationally resigning with one game of the season to go but he left PSV with a win percentage of just over 64%.
This season has shown that you can be successful in the Championship appointing a relatively inexperienced European manager as Burnley appointed Vincent Kompany and comfortably won the league to win an immediate return to the Premier League.
If Leicester were to appoint Van Nistelrooy he would potentially be able to use his contacts at Manchester United in the same way Kompany did at Man City, to get some young players in on loan and his high win percentage at PSV clearly shows he has managerial ability, so could he be the right man to take over at The Foxes?
Carlos Corberan - West Bromwich Albion
Spanish manager Carlos Corberan came so close to gaining promotion out of the Championship in the 2021/22 season but fell at the last hurdle as Huddersfield Town lost at Wembley in the play-off final to Nottingham Forest.
Corberan's development as a coach really started in 2017 where he was appointed as U21's boss at Leeds United. During his time there, he learnt from Marcelo Bielsa and was First Team Coach at Leeds in the year they won promotion to the Premier League.
Earlier this season, Corberan was appointed manager at West Bromwich Albion at a time when they seemed to be in real crisis. They were bottom but one in the Championship table when he joined but after going on a run of ten wins in 12 games, they shot up the table and even for a while had a shot at the play offs.
With the situation at WBA uncertain off the field, it may be that if Leicester were to approach Corberan he could be tempted to make the switch to the East Midlands. With his experience of promotion from the league, could he be the right choice?
Michael Carrick - Middlesbrough
Michael Carrick is an inexperienced manager having not even reached a full year in charge of Middlesbrough, but that does not mean he has not been successful.
After retiring at Manchester United, he joined their coaching staff and learnt under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before becoming interim manager for two games after the sacking of Solskjaer.
At the end of October, he was given his first permanent managerial role at Middlesbrough where he took over a side languishing towards the bottom of the table. However, by the end of the season and two manager of the month awards later, Boro had finished in fourth place before falling to Coventry City in the play off semi finals.
Carrick has a 54% win percentage in his time at Middlesborough but there may be question marks over how much experience he has and if he would even want to make the move to Leicester but could he be the right man to take over?
There are bound to be plenty of names interested in the role including many we have not mentioned here. Regardless of who it is the board picks, they need to make sure it is the right option otherwise it could be a longer stay than hoped for in England's second tier.