Leicester fans & journalist take shots at failed set-piece specialist

Set-piece coach Andrew Hughes will go down as a terrible appointment at Leicester City Football Club, which is actually one of the only consistent elements the King Power International Group and their LCFC executives have reached in recent times. The now-former Foxes coaching staff member will now join respectable Spanish side Athletic Bilbao as their newly appointed "set-piece specialist".

Hughes arrived at the East Midlands club in the summer of 2024, brought in from Norwich City to work under newly appointed head coach Steve Cooper. The former remained on the LE2 staff even after Cooper departed and Ruud van Nistelrooy took charge; having also combined his club duties with a role in Steve Clarke's Scotland setup. Marti Cifuentes and Gary Rowett didn't consider replacing either.

Why Leicester City even had a so-called free-kick and corner guru

This is a pathetically regressive era of City's history, where direction and discernment seem to have been cast aside in favour of chasing trends without regard for suitability or proven quality. Embarrassingly, relatively smaller clubs like Leicester always cringe-inducingly attempt to emulate, or in lazier instances simply replicate, the methods and models of bigger teams with more qualified head coaches and vastly superior resources.

Throughout the Premier League and further down the divisions, managers from top clubs to Russell Martin himself (whilst previously with MK Dons and Southampton) have sought to embody, or copy, the distinctive playing style of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Though such superficial plagiarism naturally fails in predictable fashion when the fundamentals, personnel and understanding are not there to support it.

That fact brings the discussion full circle, because Martin embarrassed himself trying to implement the Catalonian's principles at St Mary's Stadium, where his tenure unravelled amid poor results and widespread criticism before he eventually moved on. This same instinct to follow fashion rather than form credentials took hold at Leicester when they sought to recruit a dedicated dead-ball coach.

Once the highly effective Austin MacPhee gained success, it simultaneously confused and inspired organisations in equal measure. Leading many to chase a role that did not always fit their own structure; LCFC followed the herd without even attempting to think for themselves!

The Leicestershire club eventually appointed Hughes to fill that perceived gap, yet from that point their defending and attacking output from set-pieces appeared to worsen dramatically. Last season's tally from dead-ball situations tells its own damning story.

"Last season, the Foxes scored just 14 goals from set-pieces and conceded 20 - they scored only seven in the Premier League."

LCFC Live

It is a record that looks even more damning when set against the backdrop of a double relegation from the top flight down to League One that renders the experiment an absolute failure. Consequently, Hughes' exit from King Power Stadium was met with widespread ridicule and relief among supporters.

Genuine bemusement that Athletic Bilbao head coach Edin Terzic would personally approach and hire a figure whose record at club and international level with Scotland ended in a disappointing group-stage exit at the recent World Cup. Meanwhile, a reporter chose to ironically place the job title 'set-piece specialist' in inverted commas subtly implies the gap between reputation and reality.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow