Updated at 15.05
BEING SACKED BY Leicester City after orchestrating the club’s fairytale Premier League title triumph came as a huge shock to Claudio Ranieri, the Italian has said, though he won’t go into further details until his appearance on Sky Sports show Monday Night Football next month.
Ranieri was axed in February, as the reigning champions battled against relegation amid a disappointing attempt to retain their crown.
Their fortunes have since improved under caretaker Craig Shakespeare, the Foxes having even reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Sevilla.
Speaking at the Rebibbia prison near Rome, former Chelsea, Valencia, Juventus, Roma and Inter boss Ranieri discussed his emotions upon being shown the door at King Power Stadium.
Thinking of the dismissal by Leicester, the first thing that comes to mind is a sense of surprise even more than of bitterness,” he said.
“I had gone through a lot in my long career, but I’d never experienced anything like that. It was a shock. Even though, at the end of the day, these things happen in football.”
Of his career in football, he added: “This is my world. I started coaching in the Interregionale league in Catanzaro. There were pitches with no grass, at times we had no water, no training equipment. I had to do it all myself.
I never hitched my wagon to anyone, so what I achieved over the years was done with only my results on the field.”
Ranieri also announced he will address his Leicester departure in greater detail during an appearance as a television pundit on Monday Night Football next month.
Sky Sports in England asked me to commentate on a game on 10 April and I accepted,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk about it until then. It all started in England, so it seems right to resume in England.”
James Rodriguez was free ,no brainer for the toffees ,plays well under ancelotti and the commercial side of things Rodriguez has added to the everton brand in South America is great marketing.
@Thomas King: free? Most reports say 20m
@Thomas King: wasn’t a free transfer. Reported to be 12million but could still prove good business for everton
Have a feeling Liverpool are going to make this a very predictable season and win at another reasonable canter with some competition from City as Pep loses interest in his last season.
Chelsea will need months to gel that team of signings, and suffer accordingly and Lampard will be fired by January – you heard it here first ;-)
Not enough love for Timo Werner in this article. He was an absolute steal at the price Chelsea paid for him.
@John Lynch: 100%. But I also feel the money spent puts Lampard at risk of not making it to Christmas if things don’t go extremely well.
@Dave O Keeffe: Why? Same pressure wasn’t put under Ole who has a net spend of nearly 100 million more.
Eh…why have you Man City colours in the trophy…Liverpool are reigning champions.
@Damien Leen: haha! C’mon Citeh!