He is the Manager who guided Leicester City, a small English Premier League club that had and was thought to permanently be fighting to stay in the top-flight EPL, to the 38-game regular season championship last year. It may be The Greatest Upset In The History Of Recorded Sport, maybe even bigger than the Miracle On Ice, because the Foxes had to prove their worthiness game after game, and not just in some one-off playoff. It was, simply, brilliant, and a reminder that, truly, Anything Can Happen.
And then Leicester was what people thought they were this year. They were so bad that they were just one point above relegation, and being relegated as defending champs would have been humiliating, if not unprecedented. Ranieri tried to preach patience, but the Foxes faithful and ownership, believing that one historic title meant that they could ask, "But what you have you done for me lately?" finally did what I think is unbelievable: They fired Ranieri on February 23, about nine months after guiding them to The Promised Land.
This bullshit happens all the time in the EPL. For example, Chelsea, the year after winning the EPL in 2015, sacked their Manager, Jose Mourinho, but that was a bit more justified because he went batshit crazy that year. Plus, it's Chelsea, a powerhouse club which is expected to win championships. They can grind through Managers like it's a sausage maker because they have enough players and money to compete regardless of who's in the technical area.
But this is Leicester City, where the ultimate glory isn't expected and probably will never be seen again. I don't care if the Foxes were relegated all the way down The Pyramid to Level 22; if Claudio Ranieri was in charge when the side accomplished the impossible, he gets to stay in charge for as long as he damn well pleases. He can be demented, in a chair, relegated to eating pureed peas and shitting twice an hour -- he gets to stay as Manager! And if the players suddenly turned their backs on the man who gave them a title no one saw coming, which is what I think happened here, fire the players, not the Manager.
Unfortunately, what I still think was a rash decision has paid off handsomely. Interim Manager Craig Shakespeare guided this team to five straight EPL wins and the Quarterfinals of the Champions League before getting eliminated. As of press time they're in twelfth place -- no chance to repeat as EPL champs (that should go to Chelsea), but ensuring another year in top-flight with each passing Matchday.
After Leicester City cemented the EPL title last year I went to their website to see if I could purchase their jersey. I so wanted to be a part of that history. They were sold out. Now, I don't give a damn about them. A Manager does something that'll never be seen again, and this is the goddamn thanks he gets?!
Poor Bastard.
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