Craig Shakespeare opens up on replacing Claudio Ranieri at Leicester

Posted Monday, September 25, 2017 by 101 GREAT GOALS

Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare this weekend discussed the difficulties he faced in replacing Claudio Ranieri at the King Power Stadium, following the Italian's shock sacking in February.

Uproar

The Foxes' decision to part ways with Ranieri less than a year after he had guided them to the most unexpected and incredible of Premier League titles was met with widespread criticism from fans and pundits alike.

Many branded the decision of the Leicester board as 'disgraceful', while rumours of direct involvement from a number of Foxes players in Ranieri's sacking quickly saw the club quickly go from a beloved one to hated by supporters all over Europe.

'The hardest thing'

Leicester opted to allow Ranieri's assistant at the club, Craig Shakespeare, to take over the reins as the club's new first-team boss, with the 53-year-old having since done a stellar job in stabilising the ship and building a deeper squad over the summer.

However, his transition into the position was far from a straightforward one, with Shakespeare opening up on the difficulties he faced in an interview with the Telegraph.

'That first Liverpool game feels ages ago now and when you sit down and analyse everything that's happened in that time, it can be frightening.'

'We've had loads of things to deal with – there was me taking over from Claudio, the hardest thing I've had to do in my career because of the circumstances.'

'People had their ideas of who the villains were and my family were hearing about me being the man who knifed Claudio in the back. It didn't really get to me because you have to be resilient in football. '

'I was still an employee of the club and I didn't want them to be in the relegation zone. That first result [a 3-1 win] was massive for everyone but it was still nice to walk my dog the following day and return to normality.'