You couldn’t script it.
The Leicester City story has taken a dark turn over the past few months.
From relegation favourites in the summer of 2015, to Premier League champions last season, they’re currently in the relegation zone and in the bad books of most football fans after sacking Claudio Ranieri.
First Kasper Schmeichel, now Jamie Vardy has responded https://t.co/GTNkpTNtR7
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 26, 2017
The Italian was dismissed earlier this week. The team have been on a terrible run and without a league goal in 2017, yet many felt Ranieri’s achievement last season should have been enough to give him the chance to try keep the team up.
However, according to several reports, unrest in the dressing room brought the 65-year-old’s reign to an end less than a year after guiding the Foxes to the most improbable league title in the history of organised football.
The players have strongly denied that they called for Ranieri to be sacked.
Harsh? https://t.co/JZeBp8csp0
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 26, 2017
Kasper Schmeichel said that players don’t have that type of power or influence with the club’s power brokers, and to say they do was “ridiculous.”
Yet, according to reports on Sunday, the senior players told the owners who they want to replace Ranieri during a meeting at the club’s training ground.
And, according to the Sun, they opted for Nigel Pearson.
Yes, that Nigel Pearson.
Ranieri’s predecessor, who called a reporter an “ostrich”, wrestled on the sideline with a Crystal Palace player and was sacked in the summer of 2015 in controversial circumstances.
David Brent interviews Nigel Pearson…pic.twitter.com/766whs0cC6
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOE_UK) May 1, 2015
The 53-year-old has been out of work since getting sacked by Derby County earlier this season. However, he reportedly remains a “popular figure” within the Leicester dressing room.
Pearson guided the club into the Premier League in 2014, and helped keep them up before leaving. If he returns, it will be his third spell at the club, having previously been manager between 2008 and 2010, and 2011 to 2015.
His former assistants, Craig Shakespeare and Mike Stowell, are still at Leicester and will be in charge for Monday’s game against Liverpool.
Roberto Mancini was strongly linked with the position, but is said to want £6m a year to become manager.
The Times football journalist Henry Winter said earlier this week that some Leicester players want Pearson back.
Some of the #lcfc players want Nigel Pearson back.
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 23, 2017
According to reports on Sunday, he could be re-appointed this week. The Leicester fairytale had already taken a dark turn, but, if this happens, it’ll become utterly bizarre.
If they do end up making a film about Leicester, we reckon we’ll skip the sequel.
Catch up with this week’s episode of 888sport Football Friday Live
