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Steve Cooper Named Manager of Premier League Leicester City

Steve Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest last December but returns to the Premier League as Leicester manager. Paul ELLIS / AFP
Steve Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest last December but returns to the Premier League as Leicester manager. Paul ELLIS / AFP
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Steve Cooper Named Manager of Premier League Leicester City

Steve Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest last December but returns to the Premier League as Leicester manager. Paul ELLIS / AFP
Steve Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest last December but returns to the Premier League as Leicester manager. Paul ELLIS / AFP

Leicester City have appointed former Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper as their new manager, the newly promoted Premier League club said on Thursday.
"Leicester City Football Club can today confirm the appointment of Steve Cooper as our new First Team Manager ahead of the 2024/25 Premier League season. Steve, 44, has agreed a three-year contract," the club said in a statement.
Cooper fills the vacuum left by Enzo Maresca, who left for the vacant post at Chelsea earlier this month, AFP said.
Maresca, 44, had steered 2016 Premier League champions Leicester back to the Premier League after just one season in the Championship.
"We are delighted to welcome Steve to Leicester City," said Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha in a statement.
"His vision for the team, including his ability to develop players and implement a dynamic style of play, is very much aligned with our aspirations for the Club.
"As a leader, he has the ability to build on the strong relationship that has been forged between our fans and our team, strengthening a bond that will be vital to us re-establishing the Club in the Premier League."
Cooper guided Forest to promotion in 2022 but was fired in December 2023 with the club deep in relegation trouble. They eventually remained in the Premier League under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
"I am really excited and proud to be appointed Leicester City's First Team Manager," said Welshman Cooper.
"This is a fantastic club with a rich history and passionate supporters.
"I am excited to work with such a talented squad and I'm looking forward to the challenge of achieving our shared ambitions in the Premier League."

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Workers Take Down Olympic Rings from Eiffel Tower – for Now

Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
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Workers Take Down Olympic Rings from Eiffel Tower – for Now

Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Workers removed the Olympics logo from the Eiffel Tower in the early hours of Friday, returning the beloved monument to its familiar form -- but perhaps only temporarily.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has promised to build new Olympic rings and return them to the landmark as a tribute to the hugely successful Olympic Games held in the capital during July and August.

The proposal has polarized opinion in the French capital and has been criticized by descendants of the tower's designer Gustave Eiffel, as well as conservation groups.

After initially suggesting the new rings should be permanent, Hidalgo has proposed they remain on the city's world-renowned symbol until the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

Workers operating multiple large cranes removed the 30-tonne steel rings from between the first and second floors of the tower during the early hours of Friday morning.

They were first installed just under four months ago, on June 7, and will now be melted down and recycled.

The new rings, which the International Olympic Committee is expected to pay for, would be lighter versions of the originals and less prominent, according to a deputy Paris mayor, Pierre Rabadan.

"In my opinion, it would be better to put them somewhere else because it's a Parisian monument and it's not right that it becomes an advertising medium for an event that is now over," Hugo Staub, a French tourist at the tower on Friday, told AFP.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati, a longtime critic and opponent of Hidalgo, has also cast doubt over the idea, saying the mayor's proposal would need to respect procedures protecting historic buildings.

But others felt regret at losing a visual reminder of an enchanted period in Paris and expressed support for the idea of replacements.

"They were a bit large so it's better to put small ones that can remain for a few years," said Gabriel, a French volunteer at the Games, who was at the foot of the tower on Friday. "It would be symbolic and a great souvenir."