Ryan Mason can forget about throwing his hat into Leicester ring after Marti Cifuentes sack
A new vacancy has appeared in the Championship after Leicester City sacked Marti Cifuentes.
Following their 2-1 defeat at home to Oxford United on Saturday, Leicester made the decision to end Cifuentes’ time in charge at the King Power.
The Foxes currently sit 14th in the Championship, with Cifuentes lasting a mere six months in the job, having joined them from QPR.
Leicester beat West Brom 2-1 on 5 January, which was branded as a match that could cost either Cifuentes or Mason their respective jobs.
Indeed, it was Mason who was sacked by West Brom following that defeat, bringing an end to a highly disappointing few months in charge at The Hawthorns.
Ryan Mason won’t be taking over at Leicester in Foxes managerial search update
For a young head coach in his first full-time managerial role, Mason‘s exploits at West Brom won’t have done much for his reputation in the coaching world.
West Brom is a big club, especially at Championship level, and so the 34-year-old was very much jumping into the proverbial deep end for his first managerial opportunity.
Indeed, Albion have failed to finish lower than 10th in their four seasons back at Championship level since their Premier League relegation in 2020-21, and so Baggies fans expect to see their team fighting for promotion as such.
However, that was far from the case under Mason, with the former Tottenham coach unable to match his possession-based tactical philosophy with on-the-pitch results and performances.
Despite this, Mason has been linked with a return to Tottenham to reprise his twice-held caretaker role in N17 if Thomas Frank is to be sacked.
On top of that, Mason has been touted as a possible contender for the Leicester job following Cifuentes’ departure, and so his stock may not have fallen as far as some may have thought.
However, following a fresh report from Daily Mail journalist Tom Collomosse via X on Monday, Mason needn’t bother throwing his hat into the King Power ring.
Collomosse states that he’s been informed by reliable sources that Leicester will look to appoint a more experienced coach to replace Cifuentes, with Foxes hero Andy King remaining in interim charge for now.
Experienced is something that Mason certainly is not, and as such, this new update should rule him out of the running, if he was ever seriously in it.
Mason’s next job should be somewhere not in the spotlight
As aforementioned, the head coach of West Brom is always going to be in a position of major scrutiny given the size of the club, history and its fanbase.
Likewise, that would also be the case for Mason back at Tottenham, as although it may just be in a caretaker role, Spurs are only eight points above the relegation zone.
Therefore, if he were to head back there, Tottenham would need to be confident that there would be no possibility of a disaster scenario occurring under his watch.
- Mason finished with a 35 per cent win rate in the Championship with Albion
- His West Brom team averaged 1.2 points per game
- Albion sit 19th in the Championship, three points above Blackburn in 22nd
Mason has time on his side, though, and now feels like a perfect opportunity post-Albion for him to reset and take a job either further down the EFL pyramid or abroad, which will allow him to work away from the spotlight.
That could allow him a far better chance of long-term success in the coaching business, as he can build his experience and refine his tactical approach before perhaps being ready to land another big gig in a few years.
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