He leaves in unceremonious style but Claudio Ranieri’s legacy hasn’t received so much as a dent after playing the protagonist in the greatest football story ever told.
Ranieri has been sacked by Leicester City just nine months after delivering the Premier League title to the Foxes and it’s left a sour taste in the mouths of football fans everywhere.
There has never been such clear evidence of the ruthless nature of the business of football than the statement released by the reigning league champions on Thursday night.
“Domestic results in the current campaign have placed the Club’s Premier League status under threat and the Board reluctantly feels that a change of leadership, while admittedly painful, is necessary in the Club’s greatest interest.”
Club statement: #lcfc and Claudio Ranieri part company: https://t.co/C5qnSVxDgU pic.twitter.com/VqlHy1I6Ut
— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 23, 2017
Reports of dressing room unrest have made their way from the KP Stadium in recent weeks after a string of unfavourable results leaves the champions one point above the relegation zone.
But to outright sack Ranieri, who had accomplished so much in so little time with Leicester, strikes a lot of supporters as a heartless blow by the club’s owners.
That’s football in 2017, though.
And perhaps Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho best summed up the whole affair with his Instagram post late on Thursday night, when he reacted to the news with a profound message.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ302Ucgpc_/?taken-by=josemourinho
“Nobody can delete the history you wrote,” Mourinho wrote of his good friend.
And a truer word was never spoken.
