Claudio Ranieri sacked: Leicester axe Premier League winner as Twitter reacts to the shock news
Foxes confirm Italian has been given the chop despite leading them to historic title win last season
JOSE MOURINHO has led the lines of footballers, pundits and even celebrities paying tribute to sacked Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri.
The Foxes manager led his side to a historic Premier League trophy last season against all the odds.
But Ranieri will no longer be in charge at the King Power Stadium after yesterday's 2-1 Champions League last-16 first-leg defeat to Sevilla.
Leicester have been widely credited with showing some much-needed fight in Europe after struggling in the league.
But it appears the club's owners are more concerned with the impending relegation battle rather than the chance of making further progress abroad.
And Mourinho paid a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, writing: "CHAMPION OF ENGLAND and FIFA MANAGER of THE YEAR sacked. That’s the new football Claudio. Keep smiling AMICO. Nobody can delete the history you wrote.”
Lovers of the beautiful game were not impressed with Leicester's harsh decision, with Phil Neville exclaiming: “Ranieri sacked WTF.”
Aaron McCarey said: “Ranieri sacking is a joke. Playing have completely let him down and believed their own hype!”
Danny Higginbotham noted: “The dreaded price of over-achieving. Football at its craziest!”
Piers Morgan joined in the fun, writing: “Wayne Shaw sacked for eating a pie. Claudio Ranieri sacked for winning the Premier League. This is the week football ate itself.”
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Piers Morgan joined in the fun, writing: “Wayne Shaw sacked for eating a pie. Claudio Ranieri sacked for winning the Premier League. This is the week football ate itself.”
Keith Gillespie chimed in: “Shocking decision by Leicester City.”
Foxes fan Gary Lineker tweeted: “After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad.”
Jamie Carragher simply said: “Absolute joke.”
Franny Lee shouted: “WHO SACKED RANIERI… THE PLAYERS…?”
Pop singer James Arthur added: “Ranieri sacked. Shocking. The man did the impossible. A sniff of relegation and he’s sacked. Something wrong with football these days.”
Leicester Supporters Trust chairman Ian Bason expressed his sadness at the decision to sack Ranieri.
Bason told Sky Sports News: "It's really quite sad, it seems strange timing to me. The new manager can't make any signings so he's got to get a different response out of the existing players.
"I think some fans would prefer an English manager but who are you going to go for? I doubt we'll be able to get Eddie Howe from Bournemouth so it's going to be a question of who comes in and can they have a quick impact, not knowing the players so well?
"I can't see Martin O'Neill coming back and Nigel Pearson looks even more unlikely. It's a massive decision to make. Swansea and Hull have seen a change of manager and gone on a good run but look at Crystal Palace...there's no guarantee it's going to have any success."
Asked what he would say to Ranieri, Bason added: "Thanks for everything you did, it's way beyond what everyone expected. A big thanks from all the Leicester fans - and all the best. A lot of people will be very sad tonight."