| The depressing face of modern football 09:07 - Feb 24 with 973 views | ASAx |
I am happy to give a huge amount of credit to Leicester's players for their performances and heart last season. There is little arguing that collectively they played out of their absolute skins.
But the news that it was those same players who got together and put pressure on the owner, one of the seemingly more sensible and thoughtful owners out there, leaves an incredible sour taste that sums up all that is wrong with modern football.
Ranieri is not exempt from blame in their struggles this season. That much is obvious. But this is a man who came into a club that was focused solely on survival, turned a bunch of average Premier League and in some case Championship players into a team that won the Premier League by 10 points, lost 3 games all season and achieved the biggest sporting shock any of us will ever witness, something remarkable in the 70's and 80's and thought impossible in the modern game.
The players have completely and utterly let Ranieri down. I said a few weeks back that Leicester could have used their title win to really go for it, to spend £200m, to bring in the very best global superstars they could attract, but that it would have been extremely harsh on these players to lose their places.
The likes of Vardy, who rose from non league, Mahrez, who nobody had heard of and Morgan, who had always been a fairly reliable Championship centre half, were suddenly heroes, rewarded with massive new deals and achieved something they could never even have dreamed of. A title and Champions League football that I'm sure they all believed would never be something that happened to them.
The title win and subsequent events seems to have created some huge ego's in that dressing room, ones upset by Ranieri's tinkering. We know better than most how a European campaign can change the state of play and the problems that can be created within a squad from trying to spin all those plates, but what else could they have done.
The Leicester players are largely the same ones that won the league. To put together the type of performances that would have seen them safe is really not beyond them. It comes down to attitude for me. They've got Champions League football, a contract they could never have expected, they will go down in folklore and they have simply not tried this season. They look like collectively they have nothing else to achieve and cannot be bothered. If they now suddenly start to play for a new manager then what an insult to Ranieri that would be.
In my eyes Ranieri was always going to have to improve the squad, was always going to have to shuffle the pack and my main criticism of him this season is his team selection has been too loyal to the players from last year, the ones who underperformed this year and the same ones who seem to have now stabbed him in the back.
If you can't show loyalty and togetherness and fight for a man who has brought you unimaginable success, unimaginable fame, a unimaginable league medal and an unimaginable contract (surely every footballer plays for one of those reasons) then what hope has the game got?
How sad that this week two amazing stories, the Sutton cup run and performance against Arsenal and Leicester's unbelievable season have both ended in really depressing fashion. [Post edited 24 Feb 2017 9:25]
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| The depressing face of modern football on 09:14 - Feb 24 with 914 views | Bad_Boy_Mark |
Well written and I completely agree.
If stories of the players going behind the manager's back are true, they should hang their heads in collective shame.
It's on days like this that I really dislike football. |  | | |
| The depressing face of modern football on 09:16 - Feb 24 with 901 views | wrightsrightglove |
Agree with this. Horrendous decision from Leicester and will probably lose them a lot of the admirers that they gained last season. Just goes to show how fickle football is now; from the creator of one of the greatest ever sporting achievements to losing your job in under a year. I know it'd never happen but if Mick went in the summer I would welcome Ranieri with open arms to Ipswich. |  | | |
| The depressing face of modern football on 10:07 - Feb 24 with 820 views | manchego |
When they won the league - in fact long before - I thought they would be a good bet to go down.
They might not of course but it's going to get hairy.
It reminded me very much of us getting 5th under Burley followed by relegation.
Half the problem was all the European games which seem great at the time. Then you have to manage players in and players out which is a minefield. [Post edited 24 Feb 2017 10:09]
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| The depressing face of modern football on 13:11 - Feb 24 with 738 views | ClausThomsen |
He's been under pressure for months, he only lost one player and brought a few in.
They can't go down with the contracts they've handed out, a new manager and a new voice who isn't hungover on last season might be what they need to turn it around.
They looked certain to go down under Ranieri, I'm not surprised at all - but it is unfortunate.
The fairytale is over! | | | |
| The depressing face of modern football on 15:14 - Feb 24 with 661 views | Westover |
Very good post but I'm now hoping they go down they don't IMO deserve to stay up after what the owners have done and that goes for some of the players as well. | | | |
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