Gary Lineker’s comments on Leicester City appointing Claudio Ranieri in 2015 eventually left the Foxes legend red-faced.
Leicester City pulled off a great escape to achieve survival in the 2014/15 Premier League campaign and then defied all odds to win the title in 2016.
Claudio Ranieri, who replaced Nigel Pearson as manager in July 2015, achieved the biggest fairytale in modern football to guide the Foxes to first position in the table above the likes of Tottenham and Arsenal.
Jose Mourinho hailed Ranieri’s legendary feat, with the Italian cementing his place in Leicester folklore for eternity.
While no one could have envisaged his monumental impact at the King Power Stadium, legendary striker Gary Lineker wasn’t initially happy when the appointment was made.
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How Gary Lineker reacted when Leicester City appointed Claudio Ranieri
A Leicester fan and a legend of the club, Lineker often gives his verdict on everything going on, and this was the case when Ranieri was drafted into the hotseat.
Ranieri arrived in Leicestershire following a less-than-eventful spell in charge of the Greece national team, where he lasted just four games before being sacked after losing to the Faroe Islands in November 2014.
Despite previously winning the UEFA Super Cup with Valencia and the Italian Cup at Fiorentina, Lineker wasn’t most overjoyed with the appointment.
Reacting to the news via X, formerly Twitter, Lineker said in July 2015: “Claudio Ranieri? Really?” suggesting he wasn’t best pleased with the decision.
Of course, he was instantly proven wrong by the Tinkerman only 10 months later when they lifted the Premier League title.
Ranieri shares what went wrong at Leicester City
Having reached unbelievable heights in 2015/16, Leicester came crashing down the Premier League table in the following campaign.
Sat just a point above the relegation zone with 13 matches remaining, Leicester’s owners shocked the whole of the footballing world by sacking the Italian in February 2017.
Since then, aside from winning the FA Cup in 2021, the club has experienced a downward spiral, and Ranieri pinpointed what went wrong at Leicester during that period.
Speaking on Sky Sports Monday Night Football in 2017, he said: “I believe our turning point was the Sevilla match, because in the second half I saw everybody fight together again. Jamie scored a goal. Not because we weren’t together before, because we made very good matches against Arsenal, against Tottenham and Manchester City.
“We did not have the same consistency of the year before, that was the main problem for us.”
It will never be known whether keeping with Ranieri would have resulted in a change of outcome in the years that followed but he’ll always be a Leicester legend for what he achieved.