Claudio Ranieri’s time at Leicester City has come to an end.
Having guided them to a Premier League title nine months ago, the decision from Leicester’s owners has been met with criticism from football fans around the world.
With Craig Shakespeare in temporary charge of the club, Ranieri paid one final visit to their training facilities on Saturday morning to bid farewell to his players – the majority of which were part of his title winning side of last season.
This alone might be enough to stem the flow of speculation suggesting that Leicester’s players – disillusioned with their manager’s tactics this season – had a strong influence over the club’s owners in their decision to give Ranieri the boot.
If that’s not enough, perhaps Kasper Schmeichel’s latest interview will be.
Speaking to Sky’s Geoff Shreeves, Schmeichel revealed that Ranieri had thanked the players for what they achieved during last season and also made clear that their was nothing in the way of ill-feeling between Ranieri and the players.
The goalkeeper also rejected the reports that Leicester’s players had met with owners. Describing them as ‘”deeply hurtful”, Schmeichel said the idea that the players held such power to influence the decision was “ridiculous”.
https://youtu.be/PI8tchvZrZM