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NEIL LENNON insists Leicester City should be erecting a statue to Claudio Ranieri instead of sacking the man who led the club to last season’s ‘miracle’ title triumph.
Lennon, who spent four years with the Foxes during his playing career, was left gutted by his old club’s decision to axe the Italian the day after he led his side to a credible 2-1 defeat away to Sevilla in the last-16 of their historic first-ever Champions League campaign.
Ranieri has paid the price for City’s domestic form, with five straight league defeats leaving them languishing just a point above the relegation zone and an FA Cup loss to Millwall denting their hopes of silverware.
But Lennon firmly believes Ranieri should have stayed on, even if he failed to prevent the King Power Stadium side from slipping out of the top-flight just 12 months after the remarkable Premier League success that stunned the world.
The Hibs boss said: “I’m really disappointed. It’s just brutal.
“I thought he had enough kudos at Leicester where, if they went down, he would get the opportunity to try and take them back up again.
“Look, I have a lot of time and a lot of admiration for the Leicester owners, so they’ve obviously thought long and hard about this.
“But two weeks ago they were saying his job was secure and they were backing him to the hilt.
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“So I don’t get the whole saying one thing and a fortnight later he is gone, unless there is something else going on behind the scenes we don’t know about.
“They have great owners there, they know what they are doing. But for me it is a real disappointment.
“It is money obsessed now. Maybe if they go down they might not come straight back up, maybe that’s in the back of their minds. They might lose some players as well.
“But I certainly think it’s not all down to the manager, so I am bitterly disappointed.
“He worked a miracle and they’ll probably put a statue of him up outside the King Power now – they should because it will never happen again. It’s ridiculous.”
