Shakespeare's new chapter makes Ranieri sacking seem less sinister

By Mike Woitalla

Gary Lineker, who called Leicester City’s sacking of Claudio Ranieri “inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchinglysad,” was just one of many fierce critics of the club’s Thai owners. Now it looks like the club got it right, handing over the reins to longtime assistant CraigShakespeare.

Ranieri was fired Feb. 23, just nine months after he guided Leicester to its first top-flight trophy in 133 years, winning the English Premier League against preseasonodds of 5,000/1. It prompted Lineker, the BBC pundit and former England star who started his pro career at Leicester, to say,”I shed a tear last night for Claudio, for football and for my club. … It’s inexplicable to a lot football fans who love the game.”

Another former Leicester player and current TVpundit, Tony Cottee, called it a “real panic decision,” while The Independent’s Chief SportsWriter, Ian Herbert, called the firing: “A despicable act of felony which shows how football has lost touch with its soul.”

Piers Morgan chimed inwith, “The most disgraceful decision in the history of football.”

The ire was directed mainly at Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Thai billionaire who had boughtdebt-ridden Leicester in 2010 for $219 million, when it played in the second tier. “We are duty-bound to save the club long term interest above all sense of personal sentiment, no matter howstrong that must be,” he said after firing Ranieri.

At that time, Leicester looked in danger of becoming only the second club in English history to follow up a top-tier championship withrelegation the next season after Manchester City in 1938.

The Foxes were just one point above the relegation zone. It had wonjust five of its 25 EPL games and just two of its last 16. It had gone eight EPL games without scoring. And five games before the sacking were eliminated from the FA Cup with a 1-0 loss to third-tierMillwall despite playing with a man-advantage for the last 38 minutes.

So the reins were given to Shakespeare, a Leicester assistant coach since 2011. Before the switch, the Daily Telegraph reported that “Ranieri’s methods have beenconfusing and angering the players,” that he frequently changed tactics shortly before kickoff, clashed with players over issues such as wearing the wrong cleats, and the locker room mood inrecent months was “totally flat.”

There were also recent comments from former Leicester Cityassistant coach Kevin Phillips:

“I worked there for a short period under Ranieri and at times the organization wasn’t good. If it wasn’t for Shakey it could have fallen aparta lot earlier. Of course the manager takes all the credit for winning the league — which he deserves an awful lot of — but it would have been a lot more difficult for them to win it without Shakeybeing there.”

After Shakespeare took over from Ranieri, the Foxes in EPL play beat Liverpool, 3-1, then Hull City, 3-1, and moved up to 15th place, three places and three points abovethe relegation zone. After those two wins, Shakespeare’s interim label was lifted and he was named manager for the rest of the season.

On Tuesday, going into the second leg of their UEFAChampions League series with Sevilla trailing, 2-1, on aggregate, the Foxes won, 2-0, to book a spot in the quarterfinals.

Now, after Foxes’ performances under Shakespeare, the Ranieri sackinglooks like it was the right move, however harsh it seemed at the time.

Full-time: Leicester City 2-0 Sevilla #LeiSev pic.twitter.com/jeUFgnFXzW

— Leicester City (@LCFC) March 14, 2017