Sacking Ranieri was the correct decision
On Thursday afternoon, the reigning champions of England, Leicester City decided to sack their beloved title winning manager in Claudio Ranieri leaving many football fans around the country shocked, livid and feeling nothing but sympathy for Ranieri, but why should they be shocked? Surely from looking at how the league campaign has gone for Leicester this season, he had the sack coming.
Yes, many fans will argue that it is an absolute disgrace to sack the man who led the Leicester side to the title despite being labelled at 5000/1 to win it and it is something that is even more of a fairytale than the league winning side of Nottingham Forest back in 1978. However last season is irrelevant now, you cannot be stuck in past achievements. Last season proved that with Chelsea sacking Jose Mourinho only 7 months after winning the title, the sacking then proved to be the correct decision with Chelsea getting their season back on track and now find themselves managed by a genius in Antonio Conte, 8 points clear at the top of the table. Even though nobody should expect Leicester to do the same, the Leicester board simply cannot ignore the fact that they are only one point above the relegation zone without a league win since the end of December and only 3 league wins in 20. Why should you expect a manager to be able to keep his job when he has dragged them into a relegation battle with results and performances being an absolute disgrace, no matter how amazing the fairytale of last season was. Some may argue that the players should be held responsible for their poor performances, but if things aren't going Leicester's way, then it is up to the manager to drop those players who are not performing and this is something that Claudio has not done. After the Swansea defeat last week, Ranieri even admitted that he'd given the poor performing players (Vardy, Mahrez etc) too much faith, loyalty and at the end of the day too many chances. When you are in a relegation battle, the manager cannot be Mr nice guy. This is a results business. He has to be ruthless and find solutions when plan A isn't working and Ranieri has not done that, so the way things were going Ranieri was going to keep on playing those players and the same results would occur resulting in them constantly dropping down the table. The main priority now is safety and the Leicester board have to ensure this happens and it was looking increasingly likely that they wouldn't under Claudio Ranieri.
Another argument that the pro-Ranieri camp would use is that last year was a freak of a season, one that will never happen again and that you shouldn't expect little Leicester City to do the same. Which to an extent is true but you should expect them to be around mid-table NOT in a relegation scrap because it is totally unacceptable for a club (no matter how big they are) to go from Premier League champions to being in relegation battle the following season. Some people would then go back to the point that last season was a one off and that the Leicester players do not actually possess that much footballing quality but answer this, how much money did Claudio Ranieri spend on new players in the summer transfer window? Leicester City spent £77.45 million on new players and for a club that is supposed to be quite small and a club that people are saying you should not be surprised that they are in a relegation battle, however only a fool would disagree with the fact that, that is a rather large amount of money being spent. If you include the amount they received then the net spend of Leicester City for the 2016/17 season is £22.16 million which doesn't seem as though much money has been spent now but if you compare it to other Premier League sides, then it is pretty disgraceful. Such as let's compare it to Swansea City, the net spend for Swansea this season is only £3.15 million and this is for a club who are apparently bigger than Leicester yet Leicester spent far much more money than Swansea and despite the threat of going down when Bob Bradley was in charge, Swansea are a club who are now pretty much safe from the drop despite having a low net spend. This then leads onto the next point, what is the reason as to why Swansea are pretty much safe? What is it that Swansea did to get rid of the relegation threat? Yes that's right, they sacked their manager, appointed smartly and are now on a rich vein of form since Paul Clement came in winning 4 in their past 6 games. So for a club who spend around £77 million on new players, it is unacceptable to be even considered as candidates for the drop and surely Ranieri should be held responsible because he is the one who bought these players. You cannot spend that much and be near the drop.
Just because he won Leicester the league last year, it should not mean that he is unsackable and the board have made the best decision for Leicester City Football Club by sacking Ranieri. Furthermore despite him being sacked, it doesn't mean that Leicester cannot honour their greatest ever manager by building a statue or naming a stand at the King Power after him but despite this, you simply cannot hide away from the fact that it was time for Claudio to leave.
Yes, many fans will argue that it is an absolute disgrace to sack the man who led the Leicester side to the title despite being labelled at 5000/1 to win it and it is something that is even more of a fairytale than the league winning side of Nottingham Forest back in 1978. However last season is irrelevant now, you cannot be stuck in past achievements. Last season proved that with Chelsea sacking Jose Mourinho only 7 months after winning the title, the sacking then proved to be the correct decision with Chelsea getting their season back on track and now find themselves managed by a genius in Antonio Conte, 8 points clear at the top of the table. Even though nobody should expect Leicester to do the same, the Leicester board simply cannot ignore the fact that they are only one point above the relegation zone without a league win since the end of December and only 3 league wins in 20. Why should you expect a manager to be able to keep his job when he has dragged them into a relegation battle with results and performances being an absolute disgrace, no matter how amazing the fairytale of last season was. Some may argue that the players should be held responsible for their poor performances, but if things aren't going Leicester's way, then it is up to the manager to drop those players who are not performing and this is something that Claudio has not done. After the Swansea defeat last week, Ranieri even admitted that he'd given the poor performing players (Vardy, Mahrez etc) too much faith, loyalty and at the end of the day too many chances. When you are in a relegation battle, the manager cannot be Mr nice guy. This is a results business. He has to be ruthless and find solutions when plan A isn't working and Ranieri has not done that, so the way things were going Ranieri was going to keep on playing those players and the same results would occur resulting in them constantly dropping down the table. The main priority now is safety and the Leicester board have to ensure this happens and it was looking increasingly likely that they wouldn't under Claudio Ranieri.Another argument that the pro-Ranieri camp would use is that last year was a freak of a season, one that will never happen again and that you shouldn't expect little Leicester City to do the same. Which to an extent is true but you should expect them to be around mid-table NOT in a relegation scrap because it is totally unacceptable for a club (no matter how big they are) to go from Premier League champions to being in relegation battle the following season. Some people would then go back to the point that last season was a one off and that the Leicester players do not actually possess that much footballing quality but answer this, how much money did Claudio Ranieri spend on new players in the summer transfer window? Leicester City spent £77.45 million on new players and for a club that is supposed to be quite small and a club that people are saying you should not be surprised that they are in a relegation battle, however only a fool would disagree with the fact that, that is a rather large amount of money being spent. If you include the amount they received then the net spend of Leicester City for the 2016/17 season is £22.16 million which doesn't seem as though much money has been spent now but if you compare it to other Premier League sides, then it is pretty disgraceful. Such as let's compare it to Swansea City, the net spend for Swansea this season is only £3.15 million and this is for a club who are apparently bigger than Leicester yet Leicester spent far much more money than Swansea and despite the threat of going down when Bob Bradley was in charge, Swansea are a club who are now pretty much safe from the drop despite having a low net spend. This then leads onto the next point, what is the reason as to why Swansea are pretty much safe? What is it that Swansea did to get rid of the relegation threat? Yes that's right, they sacked their manager, appointed smartly and are now on a rich vein of form since Paul Clement came in winning 4 in their past 6 games. So for a club who spend around £77 million on new players, it is unacceptable to be even considered as candidates for the drop and surely Ranieri should be held responsible because he is the one who bought these players. You cannot spend that much and be near the drop.Just because he won Leicester the league last year, it should not mean that he is unsackable and the board have made the best decision for Leicester City Football Club by sacking Ranieri. Furthermore despite him being sacked, it doesn't mean that Leicester cannot honour their greatest ever manager by building a statue or naming a stand at the King Power after him but despite this, you simply cannot hide away from the fact that it was time for Claudio to leave.
I understand your argument but don't agree with it entirely. Leicester are not in a relegation place. They won their Champions League group and are only a 1-0 win at home to go through to the next round.? How much is that a poor season so far. Well, they are a team of average players and always have been. They have created unrealistic expectations due to their wonderful success last season. Huth and Morgan are well past their best and are now cruelly exposed with the absence of Kante. Ranieri should have been left to work through this seasons problems, they would not have been relegated. He has given last seasons squad the opportunity to play in the Champions League and to defend their crown. Next season would have been different, he would have got rid of the enemies within and the team would have been refreshed and moved forward. Ranieri is no fool and has managed some huge clubs. His only fault was that he gave his players too much respect which was not reciprocated.
ReplyDeleteI understand that and yes they are average players but look at how much Ranieri spent in the summer, the players he bought should've improved the squad so they wouldn't be having to face the current situation. At the end of the day, Ranieri did not buy wisely at all and a team who have spent nearly £80million this season should not be in a relegation battle
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