On Monday, Watford manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked after only 14 games in charge of the Premier League strugglers. Ranieri was hired in October to replace Xisco Munoz after the Spaniard’s dismissal. With the sacking of the Italian manager, Watford fans can forget about the dreams and expectations they had with Claudio Ranieri.
In the first week of October, Watford FC sacked Xisco Munoz after their defeat against Leeds United. He was the first manager to get sacked in English Premier League this season. The newly-promoted side only won two games in seven games under him. After sacking him, Watford appointed Claudio Ranieri as their new manager. Watford FC was the Italian’s fourth premier league club.
The main reason behind appointing the Italian was his experience. The management of Watford knows how experienced the Italian manager is, and that was one of the reasons why he was appointed as the manager of the Hornets. They were in the relegation spots when the previous manager was sacked, and the main job of Ranieri was to take them away from the relegation zone. But he also failed in fulfilling the arduous task.
Just 112 days after his appointment, Ranieri paid the price for Watford’s slump into the relegation zone after their poor performances continued. Last Friday’s 3-0 home defeat to Norwich saw Watford drop into the bottom three with 18 matches left, and it was sure that Ranieri’s departure would be imminent. “Watford Football Club confirms the departure of Head Coach Claudio Ranieri,” a club statement said.
After losing seven of their last eight league games, Watford is second at the bottom of the table, two points from safety.
They are without a victory in nine games in all competitions, their longest winless run since 2013. Ranieri only managed to get seven points from the 13 games he was in charge of.
Ranieri was the 14th manager of the Hornets since the Pozzo family took over in 2012.
A club statement said a change was needed to give a new appointment time to lift Watford out of trouble.
“The Hornets’ board recognises Claudio as a man of great integrity and honour, who will always be respected here at Vicarage Road for his efforts in leading the team with dignity,” added the statement.
“However the board feels that, with nearly half of the Premier League campaign remaining, a change in the head coach position now will give a new appointment sufficient time to work with a talented squad to achieve the immediate goal of retaining Premier League status.”
