Cut-throat side of soccer
THIS week revealed again the ugly side to the beautiful game – both at home and abroad. Beyond our borders Claudio Ranieri, the manager who led Leicester City to an astonishing victory in the English Premier League just nine months ago, was sacked.
Last year nobody thought Leicester City had a snowball’s chance of winning. The odds were 5000/1 against “The Foxes” clinching one of the world’s toughest league titles.
But under the Italian manager Leicester achieved such a miraculous ending that the soccer world was absolutely gobsmacked.
The club bosses were themselves surprised that a team of no-hopers not only held their own against the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, but triumphed.
A fortnight ago they expressed “unwavering support” in Ranieri and extended his contract.
This season however, things have not gone all that well for Leicester. The club has lost so much ground that it is in danger of landing in the relegation zone.
But the decision by the club’s Thai owners to dump Ranieri has been so abrupt and so cut-throat that it has caused a storm in the British press.
The Daily Mail called the club owners “snakes” and the Independent described the sacking as “a despicable act of felony which shows how football has lost touch with its soul”.
Thus ends the tenure of a man who achieved an historic milestone in which a 133-year-old club was crowned champion for the first time.
The manner in which Ranieri was axed was “the ultimate manifestation of how football, with its rapacious desire for wealth and status and the next plate of success, has lost touch entirely with the qualities which once connected it to so many and made it the people’s game”, wrote Ian Herbert of the Independent.
Ranieri is not the only football figure likely to be feeling aggrieved this week. Sacked Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba may also be feeling that way, but for selfish reasons.
The Labour Court dismissed his application to prevent the SA Football Association (Safa) from hiring a new head coach until the Commission for Conciliation‚ Mediation and Arbitration has concluded his challenge to his firing.
Mashaba was shown the door in December after a disciplinary committee found him guilty of gross misconduct‚ insubordination and contravening Safa’s communications policy. The ruling opens the door for Safa to appoint a new coach.
Safa cannot be faulted for wanting to see the back of Mashaba and he is unlikely to be back with Bafana any time soon. Ranieri however, will likely have numerous European clubs eager to sign him up.
But what these episodes show is the level of mean-spiritedness in the sport. Club owners, coaches and administrators would do well to exercise the kind of gravitas and prudence they demand of those on the field.