- Assistant managers have been crucial figures in the Club’s development
- Shakespeare has played a leading coaching role with the Club since 2011
- Recruitment specialist Walsh has helped identify key signings in the last five years
Leicester City are delighted to announce that assistant managers Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh have signed new contracts with the Club.
Key members of backroom staff both during our Premier League title-winning campaign under Claudio Ranieri and on our journey to the top flight, Craig and Steve have become vital components in the Club’s football management since returning to King Power Stadium in November 2011.
With Craig taking a lead coaching role and Steve applying his knowledge and expertise to the Club’s player recruitment process, the pair have helped lay the foundations both for the Club’s unprecedented recent success and for its exciting future.
Leicester City Director of Football Jon Rudkin said:“Behind a successful football team is a group of staff whose worth ethic and talent reflects that of the squad they support. Craig and Steve epitomise the kind of application and commitment that has brought so much success, positivity and goodwill to our Club and we’re absolutely delighted that they have agreed new contracts as part of our journey going forward.”
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri said:“When I arrived at Leicester, I could never have expected to find a group of staff so well equipped to take a Club forward. Craig and Steve have been very important to this and I am very pleased to have had their support in understanding the players and helping them to understand my philosophy.
“They are great men doing fantastic jobs for Leicester City and I am very happy that they have committed further with the Football Club.”
Returning to Leicester City for a second spell under Nigel Pearson in November 2011, Craig and Steve helped shape and develop the squad that would go on to win promotion from the Championship in 2014.
Recruiting and refining the qualities of the likes of Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, City ended a 10-year absence from the top flight, breaking all manner of Club records in the process.
Following the appointment of Claudio Ranieri in July 2015, the retention of the Club’s existing first team staff, led by Shakespeare and Walsh, offered vital consistency to a squad seeking to build on the momentum of the previous season.
Blending the talents of Shinji Okazaki, Christian Fuchs, Robert Huth and N’Golo Kanté into a group tightly bonded by recent experiences, the Foxes mounted the most unlikely challenge for the Premier League title ever seen.
Undaunted by the size of the task or the intensity of the attention that came with it, City went on to secure the first top-flight title in the Club’s 132-year history.
Amassing 81 points from 38 games, including just three defeats all season, Leicester City became only the sixth club to etch their name on the Premier League trophy.