Foxes need to get the right man...but most of all they need to get REAL
HOW can the Premier League champions of two years ago have become so utterly ruthless, and so consumed by their own success. It looks as if Leicester City have forgotten their true identity as a club – one of a dozen teams fighting to stay in the top flight every season. That is their true level. First Claudio Ranieri, now Craig Shakespeare. Both sacked. Now they are looking for their third manager in eight months. No wonder the players are fed up and demanding answers from the owners. But I’d ask where these “cheesed off ” players were when the man they won the title with, Ranieri, was in trouble. It’s largely the same group of players – so why were reports like this not coming out when the man who won the league had gone? It seems to me no one can work out what success is for City. They are a team who, irrespective of winning the league at 5000-1 odds, were in the lower leagues not so long ago. They had a season of unimaginable proportions, and a season in the Champions League. But now Leicester should see themselves alongside West Brom and Stoke. Cementing a place in the Premier League long term, realistically in the top half. In a good year, aspiring to finish seventh. Winning the league won’t happen again. Shakespeare was unlucky. His record since he took over would be seventh in the league. He won seven out of 10 and did well in Europe. In the summer, they’ve brought players in, but how many have actually improved the team? It is the same tactics. Harry Maguire has been a real asset – the one improvement to the side. The shambles with Adrien Silva, missing the deadline by 14 seconds, was costly. I have sympathy for Shakespeare. He kept them up but one win in 10 was well below par. This season they were unlucky not to get any points away at Arsenal, and at home to Liverpool. What do they need now? Big names are being mentioned – Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini. They need a man who galvanises them, but someone who can work with a certain type of player who is not playing well. I look at what Chris Coleman has done for Wales. True, they didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but he did a great job. It is no use looking at a manager who will be saying, ‘Can we get to the Champions League or Europa League?’ They have got to stay up and try to win a domestic cup. It is Leicester. Coleman has attributes to keep a team like them in the top flight and galvanise them, like he did with Wales, who he took from 83rd to 8th in the world. Ranieri, the man who won the league, got sacked. Why would a top manager go there? And you have to ask: what do Leicester want?