By Adam Rear, Luke Norman and William Webb
Tonight (WED, DEC 5) marks a momentous occasion as Claudio Ranieri faces off against Leicester City for the first time since his exit from the Midlands club.
Ranieri, who many Leicester City fans describe as a ‘club hero’, skyrocketed Leicester City to a Premier League title win back in the 2015-2016 season. an achievement which club legend Gary Lineker described as: “The biggest sporting shock of my lifetime”.
This evening, Ranieri’s new Fulham side host the Foxes.
Despite the amazing achievement of winning the Premier League on 5000/1 odds a season earlier, Ranieri was sacked by Leicester just nine months later after a poor start to the 2016/17 season.
Leicester City released a statement explaining why they sacked the manager: “This has been the most difficult decision we have had to make in nearly seven years since the King Power took ownership of Leicester City.
“But we are duty bound to put the club’s long term interests above all sense of personal sentiment.”
The football world reacted poorly to the sacking of Ranieri after his heroics of the season before.
Leicester and England football legend Gary Lineker said: “After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad.”
It is not unusual for a Premier League manager to be sacked the season after winning the League as it also happened to five other managers, including Ranieri, four have happened within the past four years. This is what prompted England legend Gary Neville to describe winning the league, “the new poison chalice”.
Fulham appointed Ranieri as manager to try and help lift them from the bottom of the league; a win is desperately needed against his old club Leicester who sit 9th.
Leicester City fans had a lot to say about their ex-manager.
Jack Church, 20, said: “Obviously, I want Leicester to win tonight, but I wish no harm to Ranieri, I wish him well. At the end of the 90 minutes we still want the win”.
Joshua Taylor echoed a similar response: “Tonight’s a special night for Claudio, he got the greatest achievement possible from a club that had odds of 5000 to 1, and now he has to face them.”
The highly anticipated game between Leicester City and Fulham kicks off at Craven Cottage at 7:45pm.
