When Leicester City owner Khun Vichai fired Claudio Ranieri, I lost respect for him and his decision.
N’Golo Kantè had his breakthrough in football under Claudio Ranieri, who developed him well and discovered how to use him effectively, leading to this unexpected success.
The ownership at this football club had not managed to handle Kantè’s contract in a manner that would have given Leicester a chance to win Champions League. They would never have seen the troubles that occured in Premier League with the French midfielder in the line-up.
Claudio Ranieri gave Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, and Danny Drinkwater roles that made them important starting options, all of them often sitting on the bench under Nigel Pearson.
Reading messages from people after my last article about Claudio Ranieri’s sacking, some felt they shielded him from humiliation. We’ll never know for sure, but the signing of Wilfred Ndidi, made under Ranieri, was the change in fortunes, with the Nigerian international being able to replace about 70% of what N’Golo Kantè had contributed.
Listening to past comments about the management after the 5000/1 season, it appears that most transfer decisions were made without Claudio’s input, as he stated. It raises questions as to why Leicester pursued Islam Slimani and Ahmed Musa when they already had Leo Ulloa, Riyad Mahrez, and Jamie Vardy. Claudio later clarified that the signings of Slimani and Musa were made by the club, not him.
Ahmed Musa has indicated that he was told he was signed to replace Riyad Mahrez. However, both Musa and Slimani never filled that role and ended up going on loan after their signing, being overlooked by Claudio Ranieri and later Craig Shakespeare, which suggests there were underlying issues at play.
" I will keep it in my home and when there is a bad moment I will take it out, look at it and say, 'Heh, come on man – balance.' "
— Claudio Ranieri (@DonRanieri) March 6, 2019
– Claudio Ranieri on his Premier League winner's medal#Ranieri #lcfc pic.twitter.com/Lb2oNGSfLa
Leicester performed strongly in the Champions League in the 2016/17 season, winning their group and facing Sevilla in the first knockout round. Although they lost 1-2 in Sevilla, it seemed that Claudio had discovered a strategy that had created a new momentum.
But instead of showing patience, Khun Vichai decided to swing the axe on Claudio and replace him with his assistant Craig Shakespeare. This had an affect, as Shakespeare, did possibly what had been written down from Claudio in the first place, building the team up again based on the best formula, getting a strong finish to that season.
Certain fans turned away from Claudio, because of the short term decline in results. This is the type of fans chanting negativity and put pressure on managers, and influences owners to make certain decisions out of fear of a toxic environment. This obviously leads to a significant decline in the team’s performance. Again sacking Claudio was a disastrous decision and showed how little understanding certain people have regarding the game of football.
Claudio was far from the first to see the no patience approach from this owner, earlier having sacked Nigel Pearson, Sven Goran Eriksson and Paulo Sousa. All respected people in the game, but for Khun Vichai, nothing more than bodies coming and going, believing the next man will be a winner.
After Claudio, Craig Shakespeare managed from February to October 2017, followed by Claude Puel in charge until February 2019, and then Brendan Rodgers until April 2023. Rodgers’ tenure was marked by instability and speculation about him joining other clubs, as well as showing great uncertainty regarding the club’s ambitions.
Since Rodgers’ departure, Leicester have hired Dean Smith, Enzo Maresca, Steve Cooper, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Marti Cifuentes, Gary Rowett, and Russell Martin. These choices lack consistency, which suggests a haphazard and risky way to manage a football club.
Chopping changing will never give you long term success. If you compete in an environment where you are financially superior, you might be able to buy yourself out of trouble, but if you understand anything about how you build up a good football team and squad, this is far from the best alternative.
Burnley made great progress under the time Sean Dyche was in charge. They got relegated with Dyche there, but instead of sacking him, they stayed loyal and gave him time, to build the team better and stronger and then experienced the best period in modern times.
Norwegian clubs Bodo Glimt and Viking are both in Champions League this season, based on continuity since the clubs were in the second tier and came back up. Kjetil Knutsen was promoted from assistant to head coach at Bodo Glimt. Viking did the same with Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim who are now in a joint leadership. They have build the base of their success on local players as a core, both men are locals and Aarsheim a club legend as a player.
Norwegian national coach, Ståle Solbakken, was hired to the job in 2020. He lost out on several qualifications to Euro’s and World Cup’s, before the 2026 World Cup tournament, ending in the quarter finals vs. England. A game Norway should have won, based on chances and play.
Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson had the same long term effect. Arsene Wenger, Mikel Arteta, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola build their success on much the same, getting time to get things in the correct shape.
This season we have seen the same with Henrik Pedersen at Sheffield Wednesday, being able to build on his work, despite a difficult last season, being relegated and not really performing to standard, getting points deducted, but still having the belief and strength to start all over again with the same manager at a level below.
Claudio Ranieri, who coached a team of misfits to win a Premier League title, should not be criticized, as his skills surpass those of anyone before or after him. His achievement should have given him a chance to coach this team into eternity, not given the sack a few months later, still competing in Champions League and not been given the trust to get Leicester into safety.
Since leaving Leicester, Claudio has managed miracles at Cagliari. He has done a proper job for Roma and also having minor stints at Fulham and Watford, also getting the sack, based on short term ideas about some sort of a quick fix. Today him and former Leicester player Roberto Mancini is in charge of the Italian national team, Mancini as team manager, Ranieri serves as the technical director of the Italy national team and president of Club Italia.
Claudio Ranieri returned to the club in the summer, to coach the Leicester team in the 10th year PL winning aniversery game. We believe he really missed the club, the place, the players and every success he build. What this could have been with him in charge, sadly not being trusted much.
Wake up, please. Leicester City FC is in League One because of poor management and disrespect for the greats of the game. Ranieri, one of them, was sacked by the owner and his helper, and certain parts of the fanbase showed their true colors, as he had to leave.
Shame on you!
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