English champion Leicester fires Ranieri as relegation looms

Masterminding one of the greatest upsets in sporting history wasn't enough for Claudio Ranieri to keep his job at Leicester.

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri appears dejected during the Premier League match at Turf Moor, Burnley on Jan 31, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Ranieri was fired by Leicester on Thursday, nine months after the 65-year-old Italian manager guided the club to the English Premier League title at preseason odds of 5,000-1.

Leicester's Thai owners took the drastic measure with soccer's ultimate fairytale threatening to have an unhappy ending. In a dreadful title defense, the team is one point and one place above the relegation zone and in serious danger of losing its status in the world's most lucrative league.

"We are duty-bound to put the club's long-term interests above all sense of personal sentiment," Leicester vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said, "no matter how strong that might be."On current form, Leicester is heading for relegation with 13 games left. It hasn't scored a goal in six league games in 2017 and has won one of its last 10 games in the league.

The team was eliminated from the FA Cup last weekend by third-tier team Millwall, which won 1-0 despite playing most of the second half with 10 players.

"His status as the most successful Leicester City manager of all time is without question," a long club statement said of Ranieri.

"However, domestic results in the current campaign have placed the club's Premier League status under threat, and the board reluctantly feels that a change of leadership, while admittedly painful, is necessary in the club's greatest interest."Leicester, with a team of journeymen, cast-offs and previously unheralded players, won the Premier League by 10 points, a feat widely viewed as one of the greatest in all sports.

Ranieri was last month voted as FIFA coach of the year, and the Leicester story captured the hearts of the sporting world and beyond.

However, the values behind Leicester's surprise success — hard work, attitude, team spirit — have disappeared as Leicester slipped closer to the bottom three in the Premier League and its star players, including Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, failed to rediscover the form of last season.

Ranieri has come under heavy pressure in recent weeks and reportedly fell out with some of his players. The club qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League with a game to spare in the group stage — it lost 2-1 to Sevilla in the first leg on Wednesday — but even the potential prospect of reaching the quarterfinals of Europe's most illustrious competition hasn't saved Ranieri.