Ranieri’s job hanging by a thread

By

CLAUDIO RANIERI once christened himself a “dead man walking” at Chelsea before losing his job – and he is about to reprise the role with Watford.

The Tinkerman may be just hours from the sack and is not expected to survive the Hornets’ 3-0 home defeat by relegation rivals Norwich, which left them in the drop zone for the first time this season.

Owner Gino Pozzo, who has presided over 14 head coaches in fewer than 10 years, had a face like thunder after Friday’s defeat by the Canaries.

Although fans pinned blame for the performance squarely on the players, Ranieri has now lost 25, drawn four and won only five of his past 34 games as a Premier League manager at Leicester, Fulham and Watford.

At 70, he knows Pozzo’s trigger finger is one of the twitchiest in football. There are dark whispers of fractured team spirit and the dressing room atmosphere being toxic, with players resorting to the blame game.

Pozzo, who backed Ranieri in the January window by landing three new signings to boost the Hornets’ survival bid – Samir, Hassane Kamara and Edo Kayembe – is deeply unimpressed that his investment has led so quickly to another imminent change in the cockpit.

Seven points from a possible 39 is no basis for survival in Pozzo’s tombola. The midseason winter break gives Watford scope to appoint their third head coach of the season but the board do not escape criticism.

Their decision to refuse permission for striker Emmanuel Dennis to go to the Africa Cup of Nations – because the Nigerian FA missed a deadline to notify the club – has backfired badly.

Top scorer Dennis has yet to add to his eight goals and five assists in 2022 and, against Norwich, he capped a distracted display by collecting a late red card.

Ranieri laid into unnamed “selfish” players, raging: “They don’t play for me. They play for the club, for the fans, for everybody. Not selfish, I don’t want these kind of players.”