ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
After late-season run, EVERYONE at Leicester wants Shakespeare to be named permanent boss
MARC ALBRIGHTON says everyone at Leicester from the dressing room to the laundry room wants Craig Shakespeare to be their permanent boss.
But the Foxes’ impressive stand-in manager looks set to have to wait until the end of the season for official confirmation.
Certainly Leicester’s players can do little more after they continued their resurgence under Claudio Ranieri’s successor.
This win, which guaranteed safety, was a seventh in 10 league games since the Italian was ruthlessly replaced in February.
Any lingering fears of relegation, after Shakespeare inherited a side in the drop zone for his first game, are over.
Now there is a growing clamour for City’s Thai owners to confirm Shakespeare in the post before scheduled end-of-season talks. Albrighton said: “Shakey said on day one he was confident in his ability to manage this side and he’s not disappointed anybody.
“He’s definitely put his hat right in there. He has been brilliant for us. The last few weeks he’s come in with his coaching methods.
“The players respect him. He’s been here for a number of years now. He’s respected by everybody at the club, whether it’s the players, the staff, the kitchen staff, the laundry staff.
“He’s such a likeable character. But we’ve still got a job to do, everything off the pitch will look after itself.”
The champions took the lead when Wilfred Ndidi blasted in from 10 yards after the Hornets failed to clear Danny Drinkwater’s cross.
Riyad Mahrez doubled their lead as he pounced on a mistake from Adrian Mariappa to shoot through Heurelho Gomes’ legs.
Albrighton hit a late third from Jamie Vardy’s unselfish pass to leave City eyeing a top-10 finish.
The winger added: “We wanted to finish higher than we will, but we’ve clawed it back from a bad situation.
“Everybody in sport knew our last season was fantastic, but a bit of a freak. I’d be surprised if another 5,000-1 team win it in my lifetime.”
Watford’s third successive defeat left them 15th, six points above the relegation zone with three games left.
Boss Walter Mazzarri is under growing pressure as his predecessor Quique Sanchez Flores was sacked after Watford finished 13th.
They have now failed to score in five consecutive away league games for the first time since 1979.
A rare bright spot was Dion Pereira, 18, who made his debut from the bench.
He said: “The way we trained I thought we’d do well, but we just have to go again at Everton on Friday.”