Jamie Carragher is “furious” Leicester City have sacked Claudio Ranieri, and he’s not the only one.
The consensus, since Leicester parted company with Ranieri on Thursday, has been that the club’s hierarchy were wrong to make the decision.
Leicester are without a league goal in 2017, and are just one place and one point above the relegation zone. However, sympathy undoubtedly lies with the affable Italian after last year’s heroics.
What a gent. Impossible not to feel sorry for him… https://t.co/ii1XlX78pe
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 25, 2017
Carragher has said that rather than sacking him, Leicester should be building a statue in honour of Ranieri after he guided the Foxes to the most unlikely title success in English football history last season.
The former Liverpool defender has also made a great point about the club’s decision to sack Ranieri based on a fear of dropping back into the Championship.
Carragher argues that the effects of relegation can be overstated, and particularly so for a club on sound financial footing, like Leicester.
Farewell, Claudio https://t.co/yryvX4OXy2
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 24, 2017
“People make relegation out to be a fate worse than death but that’s nonsense,” Carragher writes in his column for the Daily Mail.
“If the infrastructure is right, clubs can bounce back. With the money Leicester have made over the past 18 months and parachute payments, it would be difficult to see them going the way of Leeds or Blackburn.”
It was revealed earlier this year that several senior Leicester players, who signed new deals last summer, have a clause in their contract that mean they will be hit with a 40 percent wage cut if the team is relegated.
However, judging by the team’s performance this season, if this was to occur, it would arguably be a good thing in the long run.
It would make it easier for Leicester to clear out high-earning, under-performing players who are past their peak.
Of course, no club wants to be relegated. But relegation for Leicester wouldn’t be the end of the world, and many feel, including Carragher, that Ranieri at least deserved the chance to keep them up after what he achieved last season.
A sad read https://t.co/dTLMwqc7I8
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 25, 2017
Carragher also accused Leicester of lacking perspective, and correctly pointed out that the club have only been in the Premier League for 10 out of its 25 seasons.
They have been a “yo-yo” club for a long time.
“Put it another way: if I was given the choice of Liverpool winning the league next season — after a 27-year drought with the fear another 27 barren years could follow — then being relegated in 2019 or having two years of finishing in the top four, I’d pick the first option every single time.”
And said the players, the majority of whom were reportedly unhappy with Ranieri, should be forever grateful to the 65-year-old.
“Those players should think about Ranieri for the rest of their lives and be eternally thankful for what he helped them achieve.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS3xM4manXY&t=6s
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