Just in case you forgot, or you conveniently let it slip your mind, we were reminded on Thursday that pro sports, and English soccer in particular, can be a nasty and ruthless business, with little room for sentimentality.
In the end, results are all that count. Nothing more. The past is the past. “What have you done for me lately” has become the mantra of owners.
Leicester City fired Claudio Ranieri today, the Foxes’ decision to part ways with the Italian manager coming just weeks after he was crowned FIFA’s coach of the year. It also came with the memory of last season still fresh, when Ranieri guided Leicester City to the Premier League title in one of sports’ greatest shocks of all time.
Ranieri managed to do all of that with a smile permanently etched on his face, without any trace of ego, and with a likeability that was the envy of the vast majority of managers. That is why there was such an uproar over his firing—the fact that the Italian was just so damn nice, and that he allowed us, for one season at least, to believe that anything is possible.
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However, I think the fallout from Thursday’s news has been a little naïve, as some people seemed genuinely shocked. This is modern soccer—it is a ruthless business and good men get fired. Nostalgia is fine and good, but it is also dangerous. It might be viewed as cold, but Leicester are very close to going down, and something had to be done.
To suffer that fate—to be relegated after winning the Premier League last season—would be disastrous for Leicester City. Forget the parachute payments they would receive—the problem is the Foxes signed its star players to big new deals in the off-season. Complicating matters is that the majority of those players have been terrible this campaign, and it would not be easy for Leicester to sell them off.
Other clubs facing similar problems in the past have descended quickly when they dropped down to the Championship. It can be devastating for teams, and let’s not kid ourselves, domestically Leicester have been utterly abysmal.
I would have understood if Leicester supported Ranieri and let him finish out the season. Even with the threat of relegation hanging over them, I would have respected their choice of rewarding his success from a year ago by showing the Italian a bit of loyalty.
However, I also fully understand why they chose to fire him with 13 games remaining. For fans, as sad as this is, it should also be viewed as a positive that ownership is not content with following a championship-winning season—even THAT championship season—with a failed campaign. They demand more, and their ambitions continue. That’s a good thing.
