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Is Claudio Ranieri's legacy at Leicester City tarnished less than 1 season after winning the Premier League?
Whatever happens, whilst we as fans will always remember him as the manager who won us the Premier League title, the media both social and regular will remember him as the manger who almost got us relegated within one season of that famous title win.
Yes as things stand we may not go down but if we do we will join an elite list of just one other club who managed to get themselves relegated less than a season after winning footballs top prize,
I hate to say I told you so…. But I told you so. At the end of the season I came out and said this season would be when Ranieri would earn his wages. Winning it was amazing, defending it would be a lot harder.
But lets go back to the post sacking of Nigel Pearson months. You may remember every man and his dog was being linked with the vacant Leicester City Managers job. Everyday I was posting a new story to my website as I would wake up every morning to find a new incumbent installed as favourite for the job.
On the 9th July 2015 I wrote an article for my Metro online page, just a few days before Claudio Ranieri was named as Leicester City's new manager called: 'Claudio Ranieri would be the perfect manager for Leicester City'
In this I stated how I thought he would be a perfect fit for the club and I ended the piece with the following : 'So could Ranieri be the man Leicester are looking for? Well in sacking Nigel Pearson after the Great Escape of last season they have to go for a ‘big name’ in my opinion. Ranieri, I believe, fits that bill and with his experience City could do a lot worse.'
The blog can be found at -
http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/09/claudio-ranieri-would-be-the-perfect-manager-for-leicester-city-5286998/
So lets put to bed the argument that I am not a Ranieri fan ok. I am But last season was last season. Yes we won the League and that can never be taken away from us, in fact we won it by 10 clear points. But if we take off our blue tinted glasses for 1 minute we have to admit that, as much as won it the top clubs all imploded to help our cause. Ask yourself would we have won it last season if the likes of this season's Chelsea and Manchester City had been there last season?
But it is all hypothetical of course, our name is on the trophy and always will be, but what I am saying is that defending it was never going to be easy. I think most of us realised that but were looking for a mid table 10th or slightly above as the season evened itself out. What none of us expected was for us to be 1 point off the relegation zone. A wheel has not come off the wagon as much as all bloody four have.
Whatever happens, whilst we as fans will always remember him as the manager who won us the Premier League title, the media both social and regular will remember him as the manger who almost got us relegated within one season of that famous title win.
Yes as things stand we may not go down but if we do we will join an elite list of just one other club who managed to get themselves relegated less than a season after winning footballs top prize,
I hate to say I told you so…. But I told you so. At the end of the season I came out and said this season would be when Ranieri would earn his wages. Winning it was amazing, defending it would be a lot harder.
But lets go back to the post sacking of Nigel Pearson months. You may remember every man and his dog was being linked with the vacant Leicester City Managers job. Everyday I was posting a new story to my website as I would wake up every morning to find a new incumbent installed as favourite for the job.
On the 9th July 2015 I wrote an article for my Metro online page, just a few days before Claudio Ranieri was named as Leicester City's new manager called: 'Claudio Ranieri would be the perfect manager for Leicester City'
In this I stated how I thought he would be a perfect fit for the club and I ended the piece with the following : 'So could Ranieri be the man Leicester are looking for? Well in sacking Nigel Pearson after the Great Escape of last season they have to go for a ‘big name’ in my opinion. Ranieri, I believe, fits that bill and with his experience City could do a lot worse.'
The blog can be found at -
http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/09/claudio-ranieri-would-be-the-perfect-manager-for-leicester-city-5286998/
So lets put to bed the argument that I am not a Ranieri fan ok. I am But last season was last season. Yes we won the League and that can never be taken away from us, in fact we won it by 10 clear points. But if we take off our blue tinted glasses for 1 minute we have to admit that, as much as won it the top clubs all imploded to help our cause. Ask yourself would we have won it last season if the likes of this season's Chelsea and Manchester City had been there last season?
But it is all hypothetical of course, our name is on the trophy and always will be, but what I am saying is that defending it was never going to be easy. I think most of us realised that but were looking for a mid table 10th or slightly above as the season evened itself out. What none of us expected was for us to be 1 point off the relegation zone. A wheel has not come off the wagon as much as all bloody four have.
So what has happened?
The players have not been performing? We can all see that every week as we watch them perform. Is that their fault? Of course they have to take some of the blame naturally. I argued this point with Gerry Taggart on the Radio Leicester phone in. Yes when they walk over that white line they take responsibility for their performance, but are they being asked to play in unfamiliar roles and formations which, according to rumours, have been changed less than two hours before kick off.
They have become football's version of big business's fat cats with their huge expensive salaries, flash cars and book and media deals? Do we look at The Vardy's and see a poor imitation of The Beckhams?
They have lost the 'Band of Brothers' ethos that was so strong last season? This was never going to be maintained as we had to bring in so called 'star' names to help us compete in The Champions League and this was bound to have an effect in the changing room. The free and cheap signings such as Fuchs, Huth, Drinkwater, Schmeichel et al were now going to be sat next to the likes of Musa and Slimani who, for a team such as Leicester, cost a small fortune. Free transfer Fuchs sat next to £30m transfer Slimani and the band of brothers ethos goes out the window.
But are these new signings that bad? Yes they have failed to gel into a team that, on the whole, had had a few seasons to gel. It does seem that we expect a lot of our new signings these days. A player can sign on Monday and be on the pitch on Saturday playing with 10 team mates he doesn't know the style of, and lets be honest would need a few months to get to know properly and that's not even taking into account the language barrier there is these days in our multi nation team.
But a team dies not sign 'most' of their players on a whim. There will have been a lot of homework and background checks on our 2016/17 signings. Whilst Steve Walsh may have departed I believe most of our signings this season will have been implemented by him and the system he helped set up at City. I also believe that if we do stay up and hold onto our so called stars next season we could see the improvement we have been looking for, as by then having had a season to gel and gone through a relegation battle they will have bonded into a team better prepared for the battle that is the Premier League.
The players have not been performing? We can all see that every week as we watch them perform. Is that their fault? Of course they have to take some of the blame naturally. I argued this point with Gerry Taggart on the Radio Leicester phone in. Yes when they walk over that white line they take responsibility for their performance, but are they being asked to play in unfamiliar roles and formations which, according to rumours, have been changed less than two hours before kick off.
They have become football's version of big business's fat cats with their huge expensive salaries, flash cars and book and media deals? Do we look at The Vardy's and see a poor imitation of The Beckhams?
They have lost the 'Band of Brothers' ethos that was so strong last season? This was never going to be maintained as we had to bring in so called 'star' names to help us compete in The Champions League and this was bound to have an effect in the changing room. The free and cheap signings such as Fuchs, Huth, Drinkwater, Schmeichel et al were now going to be sat next to the likes of Musa and Slimani who, for a team such as Leicester, cost a small fortune. Free transfer Fuchs sat next to £30m transfer Slimani and the band of brothers ethos goes out the window.
But are these new signings that bad? Yes they have failed to gel into a team that, on the whole, had had a few seasons to gel. It does seem that we expect a lot of our new signings these days. A player can sign on Monday and be on the pitch on Saturday playing with 10 team mates he doesn't know the style of, and lets be honest would need a few months to get to know properly and that's not even taking into account the language barrier there is these days in our multi nation team.
But a team dies not sign 'most' of their players on a whim. There will have been a lot of homework and background checks on our 2016/17 signings. Whilst Steve Walsh may have departed I believe most of our signings this season will have been implemented by him and the system he helped set up at City. I also believe that if we do stay up and hold onto our so called stars next season we could see the improvement we have been looking for, as by then having had a season to gel and gone through a relegation battle they will have bonded into a team better prepared for the battle that is the Premier League.
So where does the buck stop? Well unfortunately with the manager or as he likes to call himself Head Coach. It does in any job and its why they are paid the big bucks - to make the big decisions.
Like I said at the start of this article this season was always going to be the real test for Ranieri.
Some people had said that he won the League with ostensibly Nigel Pearson's team, and you can to a point see where they are coming from, Now I'm not saying had he stayed and as much as I was a fan of his that Pearson would have won the League, but there was a lot of his squad and his new signings when Ranieri took over.
We had a lot of luck last season. The big six imploded in their own ways, we have relatively few suspensions and injuries on the whole were few and far between. We didn't have Europe to contend with and early exists out the domestic cups meant we had a clear run at the title. But who cares we won the dam thing.
This season though we have seen that the so called 'first team' have failed to turn up on most weekends. Our pre season ICC Cup exploits whist great to say we were included in it, was in hindsight not the best preparation for the new season and the Champions League, whist giving us great memories and new records has proved the ultimate distraction.
Formation changes, squad changes, players played out of position, baffling substitutions when you best players on the day are taken off the pitch, substitutions NOT being made when your losing and only 2 out of your 3 allowed are actually made….. these are just some of the decisions by Ranieri that are making the fans ask questions of him.
He changes virtually the whole squad for a FA Cup replay against Derby and we manage to actually win a game. So what does he do for the following game? A vital 6 pointer against fellow straggler's Swansea City? Reverts back to the squad that got is into that position in the first place.
Like I said at the start of this article this season was always going to be the real test for Ranieri.
Some people had said that he won the League with ostensibly Nigel Pearson's team, and you can to a point see where they are coming from, Now I'm not saying had he stayed and as much as I was a fan of his that Pearson would have won the League, but there was a lot of his squad and his new signings when Ranieri took over.
We had a lot of luck last season. The big six imploded in their own ways, we have relatively few suspensions and injuries on the whole were few and far between. We didn't have Europe to contend with and early exists out the domestic cups meant we had a clear run at the title. But who cares we won the dam thing.
This season though we have seen that the so called 'first team' have failed to turn up on most weekends. Our pre season ICC Cup exploits whist great to say we were included in it, was in hindsight not the best preparation for the new season and the Champions League, whist giving us great memories and new records has proved the ultimate distraction.
Formation changes, squad changes, players played out of position, baffling substitutions when you best players on the day are taken off the pitch, substitutions NOT being made when your losing and only 2 out of your 3 allowed are actually made….. these are just some of the decisions by Ranieri that are making the fans ask questions of him.
He changes virtually the whole squad for a FA Cup replay against Derby and we manage to actually win a game. So what does he do for the following game? A vital 6 pointer against fellow straggler's Swansea City? Reverts back to the squad that got is into that position in the first place.
Rumours exist that Ranieri has lost the dressing room less than a year after happy video's of him and team team 'pizza making' after finally achieving the first clean sheet of the 2015/16 season. Seems impossible after all that we saw last season doesn't it?
But we all know that when this happens, there is only one winner, and the manager usually ends up leaving. Just over 12 months ago did this not happen at then Premier League Champions Chelsea as Mourinho was unceremoniously shown the door by Roman Abramovich.
It seemed for a while at least that Ranieri had lost at least one player as Leo Ulloa finally lost patience with playing a bit part and made his feeling know publicly both through his agent and his twitter account. The club stood behind their manager and Ulloa was refused permission to leave for the one club it seemed that would get any where close to his asking price. Unfortunantly that club was a relegation rival in Sunderland. Yes even in January the club, it seemed, accepted we were in a relegation battle.
The whole January transfer window proved to be a total shambles for the reigning Premier league Champions. With the obvious weaknesses in our team that the fans could see but the manager refused to being overlooked we let two go (Hernandez who had only joined us in the summer, and Schlupp for an amazingly good deal of £12m), kept one that didn't want to stay (Ulloa) and spent over 12 hours bringing in just one loan signing (Wague) .
But we all know that when this happens, there is only one winner, and the manager usually ends up leaving. Just over 12 months ago did this not happen at then Premier League Champions Chelsea as Mourinho was unceremoniously shown the door by Roman Abramovich.
It seemed for a while at least that Ranieri had lost at least one player as Leo Ulloa finally lost patience with playing a bit part and made his feeling know publicly both through his agent and his twitter account. The club stood behind their manager and Ulloa was refused permission to leave for the one club it seemed that would get any where close to his asking price. Unfortunantly that club was a relegation rival in Sunderland. Yes even in January the club, it seemed, accepted we were in a relegation battle.
The whole January transfer window proved to be a total shambles for the reigning Premier league Champions. With the obvious weaknesses in our team that the fans could see but the manager refused to being overlooked we let two go (Hernandez who had only joined us in the summer, and Schlupp for an amazingly good deal of £12m), kept one that didn't want to stay (Ulloa) and spent over 12 hours bringing in just one loan signing (Wague) .
So how low have we sank? Well at time of writing this short of actually being relegated very low.
We have just failed to beat a 10 man League 1 side in the 5th round of the FA Cup, we sit 1 place and 1 point above the relegation zone and John Hartson has just called us 'embarrassing' on Match of The Day on National Television. A bit different to all the plaudits and where we were 12 months ago.
On Talksport 2's post match phone in I was called to go on air and the final question was what was I hoping for from our Champions League match against Seville on Wednesday. My reply? 'Just not to be embarrassed' How sad is it that it has come to this.
Zlatan Ibrahimović scored 3 goals for Manchester United in their Europa League game midweek, that is more in one game than our entire strike force has managed in the League this year. We have gone from Champions of England to the worst team in the top 4 divisions for 2017 in less than 12 months, that is how low we have sunk.
Can we survive? People point to our great escape season. But in that season when the players walked off the pitch at the end of the game you felt that they had fought to the very end. This season the players couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. Put simply to survive there has to be 3 teams worse that us in the league. Are there? Like I said there is not 3 teams worse than us in the top 4 divisions at the moment.
What amazes me is how many fans are saying 'well this is Leicester it's what we are like and we should expect it'. Well no. I am 55 and have been a fan all my life and I don't want to accept mediocrity from my team. Whilst some may be happy to go back to Tuesday nights away to Yeovil Town (it seems that's all that makes some of the 'I was there' fans happy) I want better from my team and I want improvement. In any job you have to improve year on year. As I said previously I did not expect us to be top 5, but mid table to 6th would not have been too much to expect.
We have just failed to beat a 10 man League 1 side in the 5th round of the FA Cup, we sit 1 place and 1 point above the relegation zone and John Hartson has just called us 'embarrassing' on Match of The Day on National Television. A bit different to all the plaudits and where we were 12 months ago.
On Talksport 2's post match phone in I was called to go on air and the final question was what was I hoping for from our Champions League match against Seville on Wednesday. My reply? 'Just not to be embarrassed' How sad is it that it has come to this.
Zlatan Ibrahimović scored 3 goals for Manchester United in their Europa League game midweek, that is more in one game than our entire strike force has managed in the League this year. We have gone from Champions of England to the worst team in the top 4 divisions for 2017 in less than 12 months, that is how low we have sunk.
Can we survive? People point to our great escape season. But in that season when the players walked off the pitch at the end of the game you felt that they had fought to the very end. This season the players couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. Put simply to survive there has to be 3 teams worse that us in the league. Are there? Like I said there is not 3 teams worse than us in the top 4 divisions at the moment.
What amazes me is how many fans are saying 'well this is Leicester it's what we are like and we should expect it'. Well no. I am 55 and have been a fan all my life and I don't want to accept mediocrity from my team. Whilst some may be happy to go back to Tuesday nights away to Yeovil Town (it seems that's all that makes some of the 'I was there' fans happy) I want better from my team and I want improvement. In any job you have to improve year on year. As I said previously I did not expect us to be top 5, but mid table to 6th would not have been too much to expect.
Ranieri has stated he may have stuck by his so called 'first teamers' for too long. Well to put it bluntly 'no shit Sherlock'. You have just said that in February, the fans were saying that back in November. But have our owners stuck by Claudio for too long?
Not known as sacking owners they stood by Nigel Pearson when it would have been easy to sack him. Following the failure to beat Watford in the play off's and the débâcle of the, is he isn't he sacked reports, both times it proved the correct decision as promotion and survival followed.
But they can also run out of patience sometimes, just as Paulo Sousa and of course Sven Goran Eriksson found out. In my opinion we should have erected a statue to Ranieri at the end of last season and come January realised what we had been warned, that he is a one season manager and things start to go wrong after this, which may explain his many short term tenures in his various managers jobs.
Gus Hiddinck, who claims he was offered the job ahead of Ranieri, may be retired but money talks and for a short term post to steady the boat he may come to us, look what he did twice at Chelsea, and Roberto Mancini is currently out of work. Just saying.
But the media are asking how can you just sack manager who did what Ranieri did at Leicester less than 12 months ago. Maybe this media pressure is what is keeping the Thai owners from taking action? But if we want to be a big club we have to take big club decisions. I got shot down on twitter by Chelsea fans for saying Ranieri should go, they love him of course. But err, wait a minute. Jose Mourinho and Roberto Di Matteo were sacked by their club less than a season after winning the Premier League & Champions League respectively.
Not known as sacking owners they stood by Nigel Pearson when it would have been easy to sack him. Following the failure to beat Watford in the play off's and the débâcle of the, is he isn't he sacked reports, both times it proved the correct decision as promotion and survival followed.
But they can also run out of patience sometimes, just as Paulo Sousa and of course Sven Goran Eriksson found out. In my opinion we should have erected a statue to Ranieri at the end of last season and come January realised what we had been warned, that he is a one season manager and things start to go wrong after this, which may explain his many short term tenures in his various managers jobs.
Gus Hiddinck, who claims he was offered the job ahead of Ranieri, may be retired but money talks and for a short term post to steady the boat he may come to us, look what he did twice at Chelsea, and Roberto Mancini is currently out of work. Just saying.
But the media are asking how can you just sack manager who did what Ranieri did at Leicester less than 12 months ago. Maybe this media pressure is what is keeping the Thai owners from taking action? But if we want to be a big club we have to take big club decisions. I got shot down on twitter by Chelsea fans for saying Ranieri should go, they love him of course. But err, wait a minute. Jose Mourinho and Roberto Di Matteo were sacked by their club less than a season after winning the Premier League & Champions League respectively.
So to end, I was recently asked if I had been offered, following the Great Escape, the chance to win the Premier League and take part in The Champions League but would be relegated the following year would I have taken it? Well too dam right I would have – then. But it's different now and I can't change the way I feel. You can call me fickle, and yes maybe I am but most football fans are.
What I am, as all fans are, is passionate about my club. Football is all about opinions and these are just mine and you may well disagree with the whole shooting match or just agree with a few points. Thats football. But I believe we all want success for our club and being realistic and accepting we will not win the Champions League (baring a 5000/1 style miracle) success this season would just be survival.
If that is achieved with Ranieri at the helm I would be a very happy man, unfortunately (in my humble opinion) I am not convinced he can do it. But then what do I know I am but a mere fan. I would love nothing better than to be proved wrong and next season we are still playing in the top flight of English Football. My ultimate worry is that should this squad go down, would not be able to do a Newcastle and come straight back up they way they are playing at the moment.
Am I ashamed of my club? Never. Embarrassed? At the moment yes. I hate hearing the opposing fans singing ' Champions of England – you're having a laugh'. But sometimes the truth hurts. Its Sunday so I may just go to the real church and say a prayer.
Managers & players come and go but the club will always be my club. Like all of you I am LEICESTER TILL I DIE and never forget - FOXES NEVER QUIT.
Bring on Sevilla....
Chris Forryan - Editor
Leicester till I Die
What I am, as all fans are, is passionate about my club. Football is all about opinions and these are just mine and you may well disagree with the whole shooting match or just agree with a few points. Thats football. But I believe we all want success for our club and being realistic and accepting we will not win the Champions League (baring a 5000/1 style miracle) success this season would just be survival.
If that is achieved with Ranieri at the helm I would be a very happy man, unfortunately (in my humble opinion) I am not convinced he can do it. But then what do I know I am but a mere fan. I would love nothing better than to be proved wrong and next season we are still playing in the top flight of English Football. My ultimate worry is that should this squad go down, would not be able to do a Newcastle and come straight back up they way they are playing at the moment.
Am I ashamed of my club? Never. Embarrassed? At the moment yes. I hate hearing the opposing fans singing ' Champions of England – you're having a laugh'. But sometimes the truth hurts. Its Sunday so I may just go to the real church and say a prayer.
Managers & players come and go but the club will always be my club. Like all of you I am LEICESTER TILL I DIE and never forget - FOXES NEVER QUIT.
Bring on Sevilla....
Chris Forryan - Editor
Leicester till I Die
