Watford decided to part ways with Claudio Ranieri after Premier League relegation rivals Norwich thumped the Hornets 3-0 in front of their own fans at Vicarage Road
Claurio Ranieri was the wrong appointment and a man out of his time in the Premier League – but Watford ‘s tailspin was not all his fault.
None of the last 20 Hornets head coaches, going back to Aidy Boothroyd in 2008, has made it to 100 games in charge, so the Tinkerman’s sacking came as no surprise, least of all to Ranieri himself.
But something had to give after the Friday night dogs’ dinner of a 3-0 home defeat by relegation rivals Norwich.
And sadly, it had to be a charming 70-year-old whose place in English football legend is forever secure after his title miracle at Leicester – but whose recent record in the Premier League reads like a letter of resignation.
Since it all went pear-shaped for him at the King Power, the Emperor Claudio has lost 25 and won only five of his last 34 games in the top flight – relegation form in anyone’s language.
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At Fulham in 2018-19, he lasted 106 days. At Vicarage Road, his reign was just six days longer.
In truth, Ranieri deserved more than seven points from a possible 39 at Watford, who were desperately unlucky to lose against top-of-the-table Chelsea and in a snowstorm at Leicester.
But the manner of the Norwich defeat meant owner Gino Pozzo was always likely to reach for the pistol in his holster.
Since Pozzo took over from the unlamented Laurence Bassini in 2012, he has shown 14 managers or head coaches the door.
Of those, Quique Sanchez Flores had two spells in charge, while Sean Dyche, Beppe Sannino, Billy McKinlay, Walter Mazzarri, Marco Silva, Javi Gracia, Nigel Pearson, Vladimir Ivic, Xisco Munoz and now Ranieri were all given their marching orders.
Gianfranco Zola jumped before he was pushed in 2013, Oscar Garcia quit through ill health after just four weeks in the post and Slavisa Jokanovic priced himself out of the job after winning promotion.
Executive chairman Scott Duxbury has always relished the “inconvenient truth” of Watford’s hire-and-fire model bringing the club more success than recrimination.
And as the usual ‘experts’ lined up to take cheap shots on social media at another appointment in the cockpit proving short-lived, the inconvenient truth is that, since 2015, Pozzo has overseen six of the 14 top-flight seasons in the club’s 140-year history.
He has also presided over an FA Cup final, two promotions and turned Vicarage Road into a smart, compact stadium after inheriting a three-sided ground and a corrugated graveyard.
If Ranieri was the fall-guy for a calamitous performance on the night fans paid tribute to Hornets godfather Graham Taylor, which left Watford in the drop zone for the first time this season, he could plead some mitigation.
Since the 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United in November, which brought the curtain down on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford, he has been without flying winger Ismaila Sarr, crocked by a poor challenge from Donny van de Beek.
And the club’s decision to veto £3.5 million bargain Emmanuel Dennis going to the Africa Cup of Nations, after the Nigerian FA missed a deadline to inform Watford of his selection, has backfired badly.
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Dennis was among the targets of Ranieri’s unusually waspish comment about “selfish” players after the Norwich debacle, where his top scorer was sent off after a distracted display.
Ranieri did, however, make a rod for his own back by declaring “our season starts now” after a difficult block of eight games to begin his peep-show reign.
Since leading 1-0 at Brentford with eight minutes to go, and bottling it, Watford have taken one point from five ‘winnable’ games.
Now their best hope for survival is being written off as relegation fodder and flying under the radar.
But it won’t be Ranieri who springs the escape hatch.
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