Leicester City have replaced sacked Paulo Sousa with Sven Goran Eriksson as their new manager as the former England boss made his return to English football.

The League Championship side dismissed the Portuguese on Friday just nine games into the season and after Sousa insisted he had had talks with the club hierarchy in midweek who promised that he was still part of the club’s long term plans.

Eriksson will sign a two-year deal with the Foxes but the moves has provoked widespread criticism from the League Managers’ Association.

Sousa had only joined the club in the summer after leaving Swansea City and the confused Portuguese said in the wake of his dismissal: “To be sacked after being told that there was a long-term strategy at the club and after only nine games in charge is something that I find very surprising.

“I am very disappointed that I had only been given nine league games to achieve success with a team I inherited. The recent history of the club has seen many such changes of managers and, in my opinion, clubs need stability to build success.

“I would like to wish the supporters, players and the staff at Leicester City Football Club all the success this club needs and deserves.”

Swede Ericksson will be Leicester’s 15th manager since 2004 and joins the Foxes after having initially agreed to coach Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal. The 62-year-old will take over on Monday and impressed Leicester’s Thai owners enough to win his appointment.

However, LMA chief executive Richard Bevan was visibly unimpressed: “How can a chairman expect to deliver success at a football club when a talented manager is recruited and dismissed within two months, at the start of the season and is given only nine league games to put his own imprint on the squad and the club?

“Knee-jerk dismissals and the chopping and changing of managers will not deliver success on the field and is incredibly destabilising to the entire club.

“Paulo’s sacking is even more disappointing in light of the chairman’s comments on Paulo’s appointment, in the summer, when he stated he was “delighted to acquire a manager of such great calibre”.

“Leicester City Football Club has had 14 managers since 2004 and six while the current chairman has been at the club.

“Clearly the club has to examine its manager recruitment strategy as their current approach does not work. It is damaging to the club and its fans.”

Tags: English League Championship, football managers, Leicester City, Paulo Sousa, Sven Goran Eriksson