Admit it, who thought Ranieri was a disastrous appointment?

[Webbo]

Pretty sure my first comment was something along the lines of him having a decent club record and being the best choice of the managers we were being linked with.  Predicted a comfortable mid-table finish.

 

He's probably getting sick of this now but shout out to @@Mark_w for the best over reaction on the board (in his defence man clearly has a lot of common sense but Pearson going broke him just a little bit).

There's been someone in the last 2 post match threads still moaning that Claudio's taken us backwards since Pearson

[hackneyfox]

Good man, so where do you reckon it is heading from here ? Do you favour CL qualification ?  Do you favour missing out on Europa League if that isn't achieved ?   Or is any Europe good Europe ?   

Yes, we'd probably get destroyed but what fun.

No, if we fall away from a CL place I still want us to finish as high as possible for bragging rights.

I enjoyed our last 2 visits but know that we were so lucky in the draw (Madrid and Vienna doesn't get much better). Now we face visits to places ending 'istan in November or a sodden Ireland' (as my brother in law put it). The Europa can kill teams but with Don Claudio in charge I think we'd be ok, not called The Tinkerman for no reason.

[5waller5]

I thought i was excited at the time ..... now I've re-defined excitement!!!

[shailen]

I did because I thought it would be a step backwards for anyone to come in after Nige end to the season. Plus I never rated Ranieri before he came to us. Always thought he was another Sven, charming his way to the top jobs.

[Donut]

I did because I thought it would be a step backwards for anyone to come in after Nige end to the season. Plus I never rated Ranieri before he came to us. Always thought he was another Sven, charming his way to the top jobs.

 

Ranieri has had several jobs that could hardly be considered "top" jobs........

 

Big clubs maybe, but taking over Juventus after a match fixing scandal? Managing Atletico Madrid during administration, thrown into a relegation dogfight with Parma......hardly charming his way into "top jobs" there.....

[Great Boos Up]

I remember looking at his career match stats and it was nearly a 50 % win rate so I thought I can live with that.

[TheSomersetFox]

I remember still being absolutely devastated that Pearson had been sacked, but was still right behind Ranieri and would probably have taken 17th place if offered it before the season. The media's mocking of the Ranieri appointment got me behind him even more.

[FireFox]

I'll admit I thought we'd finish second with him. Obviously now I believe we will win the league and the FA Cup.

[Leicesterpool]

Not me I backed the appointment, putting aside his time at Greece he hadn't got a bad CV. I think what's key to this job compared to Greece is that he's under a lot less pressure. With Leicester his job was plain and simple, keep Leicester in the premier league.

 

I tell what would have been a disaster... if we had went for Neil Lennon

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Yep. Guilty. I couldn't have been more wrong

I certainly had my reservations about the appointment I will admit

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

I was happy with the appointment and thought he'd manage to get us mid-table, I was however bothered by seeing Pearson binned off and never knowing what could have happened and the chance that any new appointment would dismantle the squad and we'd never see their collective full potential in the Prem

Think it's fair to say with us only GD off top over halfway into the season I am fully embracing all the work Ranieri has done and feel absolutely none of the "needing closure" I did in August. Seeing us so close to the summit this far into season still doesn't seem real, and as much as I admired Pearson I would bet my house on us not being this high up were he still in charge. Masterstroke by the owners

[AyewJoking]

Pearson had achieved god like status in my eyes so i couldnt see myself being excited no matter who the new manager was.

 

Ranieri wanted the job and i thought the owners just took a chance on him.

 

Apparently they asked him if he would stay in the event of relegation so they too must have had no idea he would be as good as he has been so far.

 

I wonder whether they viewed him as maybe a middle man to improve the club from relegation survivors to established premier league club before a new manager would come in to take us to the next level???

 

One could argue he has already guided us to a platform beyond the owners wildest dreams - i know we've won nothing yet but we are deservedly one of the best teams in this league.

 

So i was wrong to be underwhelmed with Ranieri's appointment.

[potter3]

I thought that this season would either be atrocious or amazingly good...still didn't expect it to be this good though!

[Frank43]

In my most optimistic moments, I thought Ranieri was a stalking horse until Martin O'Neill was done with the Republic and could come back to Leicester. But I would have given even money that Martin would have to start in the Championship.

[Lestoh]

Thought we'd be going back down.

[Matt]

What I will say and hold my hands up on is I wanted us to go all out for Klopp, unlikely, deluded perhaps I know, now in hindsight seeing what he's doing at Liverpool, I'm glad we've got Ranieri over Klopp!

[foxfanazer]

Didn't necessarily think it was a disastrous appointment but I was pretty underwhelmed by it. He's been terrific and has took all the good things NP built and made it better

[Leicester_Numan]

I didn't think it was disastrous but I wasn't inspired by it, nevertheless, as the new manager, he had my full support. I was more worried about why we were trying to sign players without a manager in place. It was Kante though, so enough said I suppose.

I got fully on board when his career stats came out and he said and did exactly the right things to make me believe that all Pearson's good work wasn't going to be torn up and thrown away.

[ramadaone]

I thought he would do ok the first year and then struggle second / third year as he has done at a few clubs

He has obviously exceeded my expectation this year

[nickm]

My son rang me telling me what a disastrous appointment it was and my first feeling was that's safety guaranteed, i just couldn't see someone like him coming here to relegate us!

[dylanlegend]

Thought he was past it... Completely proved me wrong which I'm so glad for. I do hope he keep the backroom structure though and do everything in our power to stop Shaky / Walsh / Sports science setup from leaving.

Ranieri does have a consistent record or doing well in his first season then tailing off.... BUT this could be cos he's over-achieved and raised expectation in his first year.

[MC Prussian]

Just with some new players, Ranieri split opinion at first. People who were citing at his recent track record with Greece may had a reason to doubt the appointment, but when you look at his career overall, he's achieved some highly respectful results over the years, if not decades.

 

If I remember correctly, I was cautiously optimistic, willing to give the new manager a chance - even though my judgement was still clouded by the sacking of Pearson.

I guess it was the same for many, just the reaction range was a bit different across the board.

 

Shame the FT search option doesn't yield all results anymore, so I had to use Google instead for the original thread to re-appear:

http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/topic/101556-confirmed-ranieri-new-manager/

[DJ Barry Hammond]

I was thinking about this today, and I remember the day he was made our manager I was very dubious and not happy. I was thinking this is a guy who has never been involved in a relegation scrap before and he is not experienced in fighting at the bottom. His previous job was awful and he couldn't have done any worse with Greece.  I admit I was not feeling it.. and I was thinking he is 64 and he just wants a big pay in the prem as his last job and then when we sack him after being stuck in relegation all season he will just retire from football. 

 

Omg how wrong I was, I was so wrong on so many levels. I called it totally wrong. The guy is amazing and I think I speak for every Leicester fan that the guy is totally class. I love everything about him, his tactics, the way he sets us up, his interviews, press conferences. The guy is a class act and a gentleman.. and he is a great man-manager, the players clearly love playing for him. Ranieri is the best thing that has happened to us in a long time, apart from being promoted. He will win manager of the season, I am sure of it. 

 

I actually remember the day he signed for us saying to my dad that I will love to be called wrong,  and I have.  I was wondering who else was exactly like me? who else was very dubious?. When I say dubious I don't mean "unsure", I mean like I really thought he will take us on a one way ticket back down too the championship.

I will admit it... But one thing to be careful with here, he's had similar starts at other clubs only for it to fade into something disappointing. That is a problem he will have here too, because let's face it - what ever happens this season, next season is a whole different kettle of fish.

[easilee]

Talksport saying Chelsea want Claudio back for next season.

They make it up as they go along man.

[Guest Col city fan]

Some of the thread MC has just put up reflects, I think, the sense of loss many were suffering after Pearson's departure.

For some, I suggest, no-one was going to be good enough. That's how it seemed at the time.

Claudio did exactly the right thing to not change things up too much. He could have come in and made lots of changes. He didn't. Which was exactly the right thing to do.