It's almost identical to what happened to Chelsea and Mourinho last season. The Leicester board are very ambitious.
Ranieri long gone
Also it is worth noting that when the owners gave him the fatal vote of confidence a few weeks ago they must have set him clear targets. Watching him on the pitch after the Seville game yesterday he looked suspiciously like a manager on his farewell party. Something looked amiss and he must have known the axe was going to fall on him.
If those "clear targets" were to do better than a 2-1 loss away at Sevilla they should just have fired him right away, because that's not realistic at all.
It's a business at the top level and Ranieri wasn't meeting expectations. Kante was a huge loss and he wasn't able to change things enough to compensate. It'd be interesting to know what his targets really were but based on what Ranieri repeatedly said, it seemed that Leicester were comfortable with consistent midtable finishes.
Quincy Abeyie wrote:If those "clear targets" were to do better than a 2-1 loss away at Sevilla they should just have fired him right away, because that's not realistic at all.
Maybe they figured it's better to sack him after a loss in the CL as opposed to dropping another league game with time running out.
The board's statement said they were only hoping to stay up this year, but with that looking very much under threat they seem to have decided he can't keep them up. Those players have really let him down, but there were also rumours all year that he had lost the support of some key players.
A lot of whispers that the dressing room revolted against him and got him sacked. Not surprised given how the Leicester players performed for him this season, a bit similar to how the Chelsea players gave up last year.
Even if he got them relegated this season, and then again, he should still be revered there. Poor decision, given that he just got a good result in Seville and should be at least given the opportunity to complete that task.
Re: your second paragraph, I don't agree. I don't know the whats, whys, or wheres of Leicester's strange season but once a manager has lost the dressing room then he has to go. No coming back from that.
Naturally he'll have a place in Leicester folklore and fans will always love and appreciate that incredible season but this was a decision that had to be made. I applaud the Leicester board. That was a brave move.
Bah, they are cowards. Opposite of brave in ever way. Ranieri well may have lost the dressing room, but what manager is going to come in and guarantee any better than Ranieri at this stage?
If they stay up now, they'll feel vindicated, but it's not really a measure of anything because Ranieri for another 13 games can't be tested, can he?
This one is on the players and overly self-important board who think having money means knowing what's best. He should've been allowed to see out the CL campaign at the very, very least. This sport is becoming an abomination.
flobaba wrote:Naturally he'll have a place in Leicester folklore and fans will always love and appreciate that incredible season but this was a decision that had to be made. I applaud the Leicester board. That was a brave move.
It's brave in the sense that they are willing to take such a huge risk to achieve success again. But given that he has just achieved a feat that is highly unlikely to be repeated in the near future it's a little short sighted.
I would have personally given him at least until the CL campaign is over, since it was him who gave them this competition (and earned them over 40m+, making them the 24th richest club in the world). They showed real spirit in the Sevilla match.
We've played 25 games and Leicester are a point off the bottom. I don't think they can afford going down. Think it was the right decision - any more time, and they risk all that they've started building.
If they were mid table or something, I'd say it was the wrong call.
flobaba wrote:Naturally he'll have a place in Leicester folklore and fans will always love and appreciate that incredible season but this was a decision that had to be made. I applaud the Leicester board. That was a brave move.
I was going to write this word-for-word.
Quincy Abeyie wrote:If those "clear targets" were to do better than a 2-1 loss away at Sevilla they should just have fired him right away, because that's not realistic at all.
Clear targets would've been a series of results.
Let's not forget Leicester are on one of the worst runs ever seen in the PL. 7 straight losses and they haven't scored a single goal in the PL this year. They lost to 10man Millwall who are midtable in League 1. Ranieri deservedly got granted a stay of execution to turn things around because of what he's done for them. Most managers wouldn't have seen it this far.
Coombs wrote:Bah, they are cowards. Opposite of brave in ever way. Ranieri well may have lost the dressing room, but what manager is going to come in and guarantee any better than Ranieri at this stage?
When a manager losses the dressing room he has to go. There are 13 games and 39points still to play for and it's obvious their main objective is to retain their PL status something which Ranieri naively sacrificed in the early part of the season for CL glory.
General, he set the tone early on. He signalled, as you say, that the league was unimportant, assuming that his team's floor was as lofty as Arsenal's. When our manager fails, the squad stumbles to 4th. When the Leicester manager fails, the results are more catastrophic
I don't understand how a guy like Ranieri who seems like a very decent man could lose the dressing room so quickly. Even in Mourinho's case it was quite strange, but somewhat understandable given Mourinho's madness. But this?
If they go down I don't think they'd be favourites to come straight back up. Vardy and Mahrez on massive contracts, and no doubt a few others, would kill them in the Championship financially even accounting for clauses reducing their wages. They'd need to get rid of a few, then at that point you're starting in a tough league having to gut your squad and rebuild your team to a certain degree.
Though not popular in the wider footballing world, it's completely understandable why they've made the decision.
I'd be interested to see how Leicester fans feel about this. Would they be happy giving Ranieri the time on the back of his exploits last season, or would they happily ditch him to try and save their Premier League status?
Claudius wrote:General, he set the tone early on. He signalled, as you say, that the league was unimportant, assuming that his team's floor was as lofty as Arsenal's. When our manager fails, the squad stumbles to 4th. When the Leicester manager fails, the results are more catastrophic
Spot on.
He prioritised the CL, tempted faith and rightly paid the price in my opinion.
Unlike Wenger he forgot that retaining league status, in this case avoiding relegation, is his biggest trophy.
Herbas wrote:I don't understand how a guy like Ranieri who seems like a very decent man could lose the dressing room so quickly. Even in Mourinho's case it was quite strange, but somewhat understandable given Mourinho's madness. But this?
Confusing tactics, last minute changes etc. He admits just as much himself towards the end of his reign.
I reckon Vardy will be snapped up by Liverpool. He's a Klopp kinda player - mental energy and pressing.
Coombs wrote:Bah, they are cowards. Opposite of brave in ever way. Ranieri well may have lost the dressing room, but what manager is going to come in and guarantee any better than Ranieri at this stage?
If they stay up now, they'll feel vindicated, but it's not really a measure of anything because Ranieri for another 13 games can't be tested, can he?
This one is on the players and overly self-important board who think having money means knowing what's best. He should've been allowed to see out the CL campaign at the very, very least. This sport is becoming an abomination.
Very well said. It's a shambles.
flobaba wrote:Re: your second paragraph, I don't agree. I don't know the whats, whys, or wheres of Leicester's strange season but once a manager has lost the dressing room then he has to go. No coming back from that.
There's also the possibility that it's the dressing room and not the manager that needs to be replaced, of course.
General wrote:Football is all about results. No place for sentiments.
Maybe to the people who own the clubs, to the fans its mostly sentiment.
I'm glad we didn't get Mahrez and Vardy now. I think its clear that Kante had genuine ambition and thats why he moved. Vardy and Mahrez were happy to coast and they've both been lazy shits this season.
We bid for Vardy and if he wanted to come he would've come. It's difficult to accuse players of lacking ambition when they turn us down these days. If I was in Vardy's shoes I would have too. I never bought into the hype around Mahrez and it's no coincidence no one put in a credible bid for him. Kante was the heartbeat of the team and that's why a club with real ambition has gone and bought him. This is where Leicester were projected to be two seasons ago so their current form doesn't surprise me at all although you can't ignore Claudio's culpability in this mess. He inherited a very good team from Pearson and he's bought badly. He's trying to integrate too many players at once and their balance has completely gone out of the window.
I'm just annoyed that this sad bunch who are staring down the prospect of trips to Villa Park and Loftus Road next season were able to beat us to the title last year.
General wrote:I never bought into the hype around Mahrez and it's no coincidence no one put in a credible bid for him.
According to Mahrez, we did but Leicester rejected it.
Of course we can also be referred to as "no one" though.
General wrote:I never bought into the hype around Mahrez and it's no coincidence no one put in a credible bid for him.
I said this last season too. I was keeping an eye on a Leicester forum every now and then because the betting companies kept offering insane odds on them every weekend, and most of their fans wanted him benched from Februari and onwards. He had a wonderful 3-4 months during the fall but he turned into a complete hype player afterwards, similar to Nasri and Nani in the past (although you could argue that Mahrez was never half as talented as either of them). He was never close to Kanté or Vardy last season, never mind players like Özil in the rest of the league. He just had the fancier profile of the three.
I don't know. I would still take him over Walcott and Ox. He would link up well with Ozil. Maybe not world class (nor is Vardy), but would be a good starter in a title-challenging team.
Clrnc wrote:General wrote:I never bought into the hype around Mahrez and it's no coincidence no one put in a credible bid for him.
According to Mahrez, we did but Leicester rejected it.
Of course we can also be referred to as "no one" though.
Probably agent talk to earn himself a fat contract. Who knows Wenger will confirm it in a few years.
Klaus wrote:flobaba wrote:Re: your second paragraph, I don't agree. I don't know the whats, whys, or wheres of Leicester's strange season but once a manager has lost the dressing room then he has to go. No coming back from that.
There's also the possibility that it's the dressing room and not the manager that needs to be replaced, of course.
It's much easier to replace the manager than players though. I think we would be the only club that would protect Wenger by selling a bunch of players who didn't like him.
Looks like there's one player happy that Ranieri's gone:
is he happy that Ranieri's gone or did he just like the club's status?
Claudius wrote:is he happy that Ranieri's gone or did he just like the club's status?
I just assumed based on his like 
It'd be awfully weird to like that post if you didn't want the manager sacked though.
I would definitely still take Mahrez off them, he is Hazard level at least.
Bryant wrote:Claudius wrote:is he happy that Ranieri's gone or did he just like the club's status?
I just assumed based on his like
It'd be awfully weird to like that post if you didn't want the manager sacked though.
Like how Ox wants Wenger sacked?
Fake news. Sad.
General wrote:Clrnc wrote:According to Mahrez, we did but Leicester rejected it.
Of course we can also be referred to as "no one" though.
Probably agent talk to earn himself a fat contract. Who knows Wenger will confirm it in a few years.
He said it himself, not his agent.
My point is that in the absence of any official statements from either clubs, which there was in Vardy's case, it is likely his agent told him there are interested clubs including us. Bids and salaries would've been speculated as you would expect in this scenario when agents are trying to cash in. We had different priorities and were clearly after a relatively cheap striker. I don't believe there were any serious negotiations for Mahrez but that's just my view.