MANCINI’S CHANCE

Interim boss Shakespeare can also stake claim Players deny any role in the ousting of Ranieri

ROBERTO MANCINI and Guus Hiddink are the front-runners to take over from Claudio Ranieri at Leicester — with interim manager Craig Shakespeare’s chances dependent on the team’s performance against Liverpool tomorrow.

Yesterday Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy angrily denied Leicester’s players influenced the sacking of Claudio Ranieri, while the club’s Thai owners told the squad and remaining staff that Premier League survival now rests in their hands.

But director of football Jon Rudkin, chief executive Susan Whelan, vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and football operations director Andrew Neville have already drawn up a short-list. A new manager is expected to be appointed by the middle of this week, unless the performance tomorrow indicates that the team will respond to Shakespeare.

The new manager will have to be confirmed by owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha before being appointed. It was Ranieri’s charm and affability when he met Srivaddhanaprabha in the summer of 2015 which got him the job.

Both Hiddink and Mancini are immediately available, the Dutchman not having worked since leaving Chelsea, while Mancini, who played for Leicester in 2001, was dismissed by Inter in August.

Ranieri visited Leicester’s Belvoir Drive training ground for the final time yesterday ahead of Shakespeare’s first session in charge to say goodbye to his former team, with the mood said to be sombre.

Schmeichel said Ranieri thanked everybody for their efforts and the same sentiment was expressed in turn to the 65-year-old. The Dane hit back at suggestions that player power had spelt the end for Ranieri and admitted performances had not been good enough.

The Italian left the complex 30 minutes before owner Vichai and his son Aiyawatt arrived by helicopter. The sequence was