Former Manchester City and Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini appears to be leading candidate to succeed sacked Claudio Ranieri as the English champions battle to stay out of relegation.
It must be assumed Leicester’s owners have a new man in mind to make such a seismic move as sacking Ranieri.
Combustible former manager Nigel Pearson was even linked with a return, but one live contender appears to be Ranieri’s compatriot Roberto Mancini.
He is available, had a short spell as a Leicester player in 2001 and has Premier League experience as a manager.
Mancini led Manchester City from December 2009 to May 2013, winning the FA Cup in 2011 and their first title in 44 years 12 months later.
Whoever is next, the first priority it safety rather than emulating Ranieri’s title-winning feats.
-Were Leicester right to sack Ranieri-
It is almost the thought that dare not speak its name amid the wave of shock, outrage and disgust at Leicester’s decision to ruthlessly dismiss the hugely popular 65-year-old, who won the hearts of all supporters with his good humour, class and dignity as he led the Foxes to the title.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, a former Leicester and England striker, tweeted: “After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad.”
Lineker echoed the thoughts of the majority who aired their views publicly – but is there actually method in what many see at the madness of the club’s Thai owners?
Leicester’s fall has been more dramatic than anything they could have foreseen in their worst nightmares.
A win for any of Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Hull City this weekend would put the Foxes in the relegation places.
Wins for all three and they would be bottom by the time they face Liverpool on what will now be a highly charged occasion at the King Power on Monday.
After 26 games last year they were top on 53 points, two ahead of Spurs. This season they are 17th after 25 games, with only 21 points.
Last season they had lost only three games compared with 14 in this campaign, and conceded only 29 goals compared with 43 this term.
Indeed, they only conceded 36 in the entire 2015-16 season.
The difference is stark and, very clearly in the opinion of Leicester’s owners, dangerous.
The clear and present danger was the threat of relegation, as stated by vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha when he said: “It was never our expectation that the extraordinary feats of last season should be replicated this season.
“Survival in the Premier League was our first and only target at the start of the campaign.”
Would Leicester fans have thanked the board for being sentimental all the way into the Championship?
Cut away the romance, sentimentality and the memories of last season and they will feel this decision has been taken to stave off the most dramatic fall of any Premier League champions.
It will still, however, be a very hard sell given Ranieri’s history-making effort last season.
