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Next Leicester City Manager: Five contenders to replace Russell Martin

We take a look at the contenders to be the next manager of Leicester City following the club's underwhelming start to the season.

Leicester have suffered back-to-back relegations and Martin was appointed in the summer with the aim of leading the club back to the Championship.

However, the League One promotion contenders are currently 13th in the table and Martin has received a large amount of criticism from Foxes supporters.

Here are our top five contenders to be the next Leicester manager in the event that the club opt to make a change.

League One

Next Leicester Manager Contenders

Dave Challinor

Former Stockport County boss Dave Challinor has already been linked with plenty of roles in the last few weeks.

Incredibly, Challinor has achieved a play-off finish or better in each of his 15 full seasons as a manager.

He left Stockport following their League One play-off final defeat to Bolton Wanderers in May and is likely to be interested in any developments at Leicester.

Paul Heckingbottom

Paul Heckingbottom was recently relieved of his duties at Preston North End.

Heckingbottom paid the price for a poor start to the season after losing six of the first seven Championship fixtures.

Nevertheless he has won promotion from both League One and the Championship before and he will want to return to the dugout sooner rather than later.

Darren Ferguson

Darren Ferguson was one of the favourites for the Leicester job in the summer before they opted for Martin.

The 54-year-old would provide a wealth of experience in the EFL and he has multiple League One promotions on his CV.

Ferguson has been out of work since being sacked at Peterborough United in October 2025.

Neil Lennon

Former Leicester midfielder Neil Lennon is currently the manager of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic.

Lennon made over 170 league appearances for Leicester during his playing career and his appointment would be a popular one at the King Power Stadium.

The 55-year-old has previously led Celtic to the Scottish Premiership title on five occasions and Leicester could tempt him back to English football.

Richie Wellens

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens is another manager who represented Leicester during his playing career.

Wellens led Orient to the League One play-off final two seasons ago but they could only finish 20th last season.

He may feel that he has taken the club as far as he can and he might relish the challenge of kickstarting Leicester's campaign.

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