Ranieri sacking unleashes storm
INEXPLICABLE, UNFORGIVABLE, GUT-WRENCHING Leicester owner acts as team hover in relegation zone.
Former Leicester City and England striker Gary Lineker said the club had taken an “unforgivable” decision in sacking manager Claudio Ranieri on Thursday, less than a year after he led them to a shock Premier League title success.
Ranieri’s position had come under intense scrutiny this season during a slump that has left the Foxes just a point above the relegation zone following last term’s starting title triumph, with Leicester 5 000/1 no-hopers before the start of the 2015/16 campaign.
Shortly before Leicester’s Thai owners confirmed the 65-year-old Ranieri’s exit from the King Power Stadium, Lineker, in an affectionate tribute to the Italian’s distinctive use of English, tweeted: “Claudio Ranieri? Sacked? Really? Dilly Ding Dilly Game’s Gone.”
But once it was clear the man who had guided Leicester to their first English championship title had indeed been sacked, BBC television football presenter Lineker said: “After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad.”
Meanwhile Lineker’s fellow former Leicester strikers Alan Smith and Tony Cottee also questioned the timing of the decision, which came just a day after the Foxes’ gutsy effort in only losing 2-1 away to Sevilla in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie.
“We’ve seen some surprising, shocking decisions over the last 10 years maybe as things have heated up in the Premier League. I think this one tops the lot given his amazing achievements,” Smith told Sky Sports News.
“I just thought that unless they did go down they would stay with the manager that engineered the finest moment in the club’s history.” – AFP
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is the bookmakers’ favourite to replace compatriot Claudio Ranieri.
British bookmaker Sky Bet was offering odds of 6/4 on Mancini taking over relegation-threatened Leicester, while William Hill had him at 13/8. Mancini, who left Inter Milan last August, won the Premier League with City in 2012.
Former Leicester manager Nigel Pearson is second-favourite, with Alan Pardew, Guus Hiddink, Neil Lennon, Frank de Boer and Gary Rowett the other contenders.