Timeline of events from Leicester's title win to Craig Shakespeare's sacking

Leicester will begin the search for their third manager since being crowned Premier League champions in 2016 after sacking Craig Shakespeare just eight games into the current season.

Here, Press Association Sport takes a look at how the Foxes have fallen from the dizzy heights at the top of English football to Premier League strugglers in 17 months.

May 2016 – Under former boss Claudio Ranieri, Leicester defied odds of 5000-1 to clinch the Premier League crown and complete one of the greatest sporting fairytales when closest rivals Tottenham were held 2-2 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Foxes had drawn at Manchester United the previous day and could not be caught with two games left to play.

June 2016 – Leicester sold key player N’Golo Kante to Chelsea for an undisclosed club-record fee, believed to be around £30million. Striker Jamie Vardy turned down a move to Arsenal earlier in the summer.

Oct 2016 – Leicester’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was their fourth in their opening eight Premier League matches and it was clear Ranieri’s side were suffering from a hangover. They had won only two of those eight games and slipped to 13th in the table, 11 points adrift of leaders Manchester City.

Nov 2016 – The Foxes belied their stuttering domestic form to secure qualification to the Champions League knock-out stages at the first attempt and with a game to spare after a 2-1 home win against Club Brugge. But back-to-back league defeats had left them two points above the relegation zone.

Dec 2016 – Questions were raised in the media about Ranieri’s leadership after his side crashed to a 5-0 defeat in Porto in their final Champions League group game.

Jan 2017 – A 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United left Ranieri’s side searching for their first league win of the year after five matches and left them one point above the drop zone.

Feb 2017 – Ranieri had become increasingly distant from backroom staff and after questionable t actics and selection decisions the spotlight began to fall on the manager as much as his under-performing side. The Italian publicly berated his players after the Foxes were knocked out of the FA Cup at Millwall.

Feb 23, 2017 – Leicester sacked Ranieri, nine months after he had led them to the Premier League title. The Foxes were one point above the relegation zone with 13 games left.

April 2017 – Caretaker boss Craig Shakespeare guided the Foxes to a sixth straight win in all competitions in his sixth game in charge after a 2-0 home success against Sunderland.

May 2017 – Leicester drew their final match of the 2016/17 season 1-1 at home against Bournemouth to finish 12th in the table, 10 points clear of relegation.

June 2017 – Shakespeare was confirmed as permanent manager, signing a three-year contract, despite the Foxes winning just two of their final eight league games at the end of the season.

Sept 2017 – A 1-1 draw at Huddersfield left Leicester outside the bottom three only on goal difference. They had won only one of their first five league games.

Oct 17, 2017 – Shakespeare was sacked by the club, four months after signing his permanent contract. The Foxes slipped to third from bottom in the table, two points from safety, after their 1-1 home draw against West Brom saw their winless run stretched to six matches.

Source: PA


Published at Tue, 17 Oct 2017 16:24:01 +0000