Tribal Football

Jordan backs Cooper at Leicester: But Marinakis and Forest...?

Jordan backs Cooper at Leicester: But Marinakis and Forest...?
Jordan backs Cooper at Leicet: But Marinakis...?
Jordan backs Cooper at Leicet: But Marinakis...?Action Plus
Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has endorsed Leicester City’s appointment of Steve Cooper.

He believes the former Nottingham Forest manager can keep the Foxes in the Premier League.

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He did, however, take a swipe at Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis for sacking Cooper last season.

Jordan told talkSPORT, “I'm not really overly overwhelmed by philosophies, but there's a style of play that's been introduced to Leicester when they got relegated that now it is going to be either expanded upon, enhanced or changed by Cooper, because one manager's gone out, another guy's come in.

“I don't know what the identity of Leicester City is. Leicester City is just a very significant football club that won the Premier League in 2016 and other than that, I don't know what their identity is.

“I described him a few years ago as a bridesmaid, didn't I? Because he had constantly been on the cusp of taking Swansea into the Premier League and falling at that hurdle.

“And of course, he then went into Forest and turned around the situation that Chris Hughton had, which was Forest were going very poorly. All of a sudden he did what Ian Dowie had done for me in 2004 and what Roy Keane had done for Sunderland, which had turned a team that was at the bottom of the table into a promotion winning team that season.

“He gained instantaneous hero status with Nottingham Forest fans because Nottingham Forest as the former champions of Europe had been out of the Premier League for 23 years, which is almost inconceivable given what (Brian) Clough had done with that football club and what the heritage of it was.

“He goes into the Premier League and you have this backdrop instantaneously of Marinakis, Marinakis says to you (co-host Jim White) after the play-off final ‘We're going to go in and win trophies’.

“He then goes in and he spends money...and throws it around left, right and center by buying everybody that's available who isn't nailed down at another football club. People like Jesse Lingard were brought in on big salaries for a newly promoted club and instantaneously you saw Cooper under pressure.

“The owner does something different, he pivots off it and does something that everyone didn't think he was going to do, which is give Cooper a new contract. They stay in the Premier League and they stay in the first season with a margin that's more than perhaps Aston Villa had done the previous season, who stayed in the last game.

“So Cooper looks like he's getting his head there and again, he finds himself out of a job at Nottingham Forest.

“I think he's a safe appointment. I think he's sensible. Palace looked at him, he's a decent football man. Is he going to set the world alight? Do Leicester need the world set alight? Do they need to re-establish their credentials in the Premier League because they've dropped out of it for a season?

“Everything's moved along, they're a different football club. They don't have quite the gusto that they once had. I blame some of that on Brendan Rodgers, by the way, and his achievements in the last season. No doubt he won the FA Cup for Leicester, you have to give him all the kudos for that, but I think he left him in a little bit of disarray.

“But Cooper's a safe pair of hands. He knows he knows his way around a relegation fight, and there's a distinct possibility he's going to be in one.”