RANIERI GETS SACK AT CITY

From Back Page in a meeting yesterday afternoon.

City are 17th in the English top flight after five successive league losses.

Now the club’s Thai hierarchy are believed to be lining up a big-hitter to take charge. Former Leicester striker Roberto Mancini or Guus Hiddink are the early contenders for the job.

After a 3-0 home loss to Manchester United earlier this month, a senior Leicester star walked into the players lounge and said: “That’s it, we don’t know what we are doing, we are totally **** ed.”

Ranieri angered stars this season by changing everything from his line-ups to even the post-match menu as chicken burgers were replaced by pasta.

Irrespective of the club’s 2-1 loss at Sevilla in the Champions League, which still gives City a chance of reaching the quarter-finals, Leicester chiefs have had enough despite Ranieri pulling off the miraculous title triumph last May.

His sacking is designed to keep Leicester up – as vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha confirmed.

He said: “It was never our expectation that the extraordinary feats of last season should be replicated this season.

“Indeed, survival in the Premier League was our first and only target at the start of the campaign.

“But we are now faced with a fight to reach that objective and feel a change is necessary to maximise the opportunity presented by the final 13 games.”

Assistant manager Craig Shakespeare and first-team coach Mike Stowell will prepare the team for the home game with Liverpool on Monday night.