Enzo Maresca won the first manager of the month award in League Championship, winning his four first games in the competition, the run ended at home to Hull, as they defeated Leicester 1-0 at King Power.
The race at the top in this division is massive and after four wins, 12 points, Leicester are 3rd in the division, having Preston and Ipswich above them with just goal difference from a direct promotion spot.
The start has been great, but still a struggle as the points were of course well earned but taken on board in a special way, not really cruising with the new system in play. injury problems and a heavy transfer window of players moving in and out, never stopped the new manager to consentrate on the next goal.
This is the first time since Claudio Ranieri, in May 2016, picked up a manager of the month award, and hopefully those wins will continue as Leicester are chasing those promotion spots.
Michael Appleton is back in management with Charlton Athletic. He left his manager job at Oxford in 2017, to take on the assistant role at Leicester, under Craig Shakespeare, but just months after he arrived, became caretaker boss, and made no mistakes, with an unbeaten run, winning two out of two, before Claude Puel was appointed.
Over the last decade Appleton has twice created successful sides with a young, developing core. He led Oxford United to promotion to League One in 2015/16 with a youthful squad that included a host of emerging talents such as Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram. The U’s then narrowly missed out on the play-offs in the club’s first campaign back in League One the following season.
He took Lincoln City to the 2020/21 League One play-off final, getting the best out of another up-and-coming squad, with Brennan Johnson, now of Tottenham Hotspur, enjoying a breakout season under his guidance.
Appleton’s last stint in management was at Blackpool, being their head coach from the start of the 2022/23 season, but lasted just 7 months with The Seasiders, struggling at the bottom of League Championship.
Good to see Appleton back in management with Charlton Athletic, taking over from Dean Holden who lost his job after just five games, becoming the first sacking in EFL this season. Charlton are 16th in the Championship at present.
BOOKSTORE
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