Last week we witnessed the sacking of former Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri. While the Foxes have gone from EPL champions to a squad fighting relegation in one season, most of us following the EPL were taking aback by his dismissal. After all, this is a seasoned manager who has enjoyed success in prior stints at other clubs across Europe. Taking over a team newly promoted to the EPL, Leicester City defied 5000-1 odds to take the top spot last season. At the onset of their current campaign, most of the pundits felt that the Foxes were fortunate to have so much success last season and predicted a mid-table finish in 2017.
While losing key midfielder N’Golo Kante to Chelsea, the rest of the team remained largely intact from last season. The current EPL table finds Leicester City fighting to avoid relegation with just 12 games remaining. This would seem to be a time when team would coalesce behind their manager in a final push to remain in top-flight football. But is it the squad that had in effect sacked Ranieri or a decision by team management?
Rumors are rampant that team leaders Jamie Vardy and Kasper Schmeichel were instrumental in letting team management know the players’ displeasure with Ranieri. While all sides related to the matter were fervently dismissive of the storyline, it has continued to gather steam in the media. The players on the team certainly have a stake in the success of the squad, and dropping down to the Championship division would more than likely lead to a dismantling of the team as well as a drop in pay for most of the players. Was the Board of Directors of Leicester City prodded into making the ultimate decision by the players who were managed by Ranieri?
Not surprisingly, denials have sprouted from the team itself. Both players mentioned vehemently deny the charges, while team management itself follows the same script. That would be expected, since team protocol would dictate that the board remains the sole arbiter of such a decision. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has weighed in on the topic, and has taken a middle-of-the-road approach. He does not believe that players are becoming more powerful in their access to the board, but also expresses concerns about any direct communication between a club’s boardroom and the squad. While Klopp believes such a circumstance has not occurred with him at the helm, his comments seem to allude to the possibility of occurrence elsewhere.
Ironically, the players are chosen and signed by team management, with some input from the manager. In the end, it is those players who must perform on the pitch in order to optimize results and team success. If the team is not winning on the field, a system wherein the players are able to decide a manager’s future would seem to be working in reverse. And in the end, isn’t that the job of team management?
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