Sacked Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri in this file picture.
Leicester: The sacking of Claudio Ranieri as Leicester City manager just nine months after guiding the unfashionable club to a sensational Premier League title stunned the football world yesterday and brought widespread condemnation on the owners.
The Thai owners axed the Italian barely two weeks after giving Ranieri "unwavering support" despite disastrous results that have left the team just one point above the relegation zone.
Leading Premier League bosses including Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp expressed dismay at the move and backed Ranieri, who only last month was named FIFA's coach of the year for scripting one of the most unbelievable stories in football. British media also aimed whithering criticism at Leicester's Thai owners, King Power, who said they had no choice but to oust Ranieri.
The owners were "snakes", "brutal", "cruel", commentators said amid reports Ranieri had lost the backing of senior players over his tactical tinkering.
Mourinho sympathised with Ranieri after being axed by Chelsea last season following a rift with star players and the Manchester United boss turned up for his press conference on Friday with the initials CR on his training gear in tribute to the Italian. "It is my little homage to somebody that wrote the most beautiful history of the Premier League," Mourinho said.
