The axe finally fell. Two hundred and ninety-eight days after a historic title triumph was confirmed, Claudio Ranieri, Grande Official UMRI (Order of Merit of the Italian Republic) and chief thinker and philosopher at Leicester City was unceremoniously shunted out, much to the vexation of the footballing world.

Leicester’s vice-chairman, the Thai billionaire Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, might have said, “This has been the most difficult decision we have had to make in nearly seven years since King Power took ownership of Leicester City. But we are duty-bound to put the Club’s long-term interests above all sense of personal sentiment, no matter how strong that might be.”

But it wasn’t Srivaddhanaprabha speaking. It was that character which has made its presence felt in boardrooms across the world, seeping into matchday tickets, showcased gloriously in merchandise sales. Big money had spoken. And when big money speaks, it is inevitably followed by justifiable cruelty. If there was any dispute over what dictated football in the nuclear age, this decision put any such queries to bed.

Heightened expectations and glorious failure

The club’s official statement said that “survival in the Premier League was our first and only target at the start of the campaign”, but then this is the same board which had insisted that they had thrown their weight behind their Fifa Manager of the Year despite a stuttering campaign a mere two weeks ago.

Yet, all this was unimaginable for the Italian grandpappy and the Midlands club when he was fired from his post with the Greek national team. The Hellenics’ 1-0 loss to lowly Faroe Islands was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Leicester themselves had come from the brink of relegation to become the only the second club to survive the drop after being rock bottom of the Premier League table at Christmas.

So what had changed between now and then? Nothing much, just one measly trophy. If the previous season were to be removed from the Foxes’ timeline, the narrative would appear to fit quite snugly – club survives relegation, club hires new Italian manager who is bookmakers’ favourite to be sacked, with club hovering one point above relegation, said gaffer is let go.

It didn’t matter that Leicester had never won the trophy before in their 133 years of history. It didn’t matter that the same Jamie Vardy, who has five league goals to his name, had the same tally the season previous to the last. It didn’t matter that Riyad Mahrez was once an obscure Algerian winger who was bought for €350,000, an amount that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and now Carlos Tevez in China earn on a weekly basis.

At the end, all that mattered were the two digits under the ‘POS’ column in the table. Leicester’s last result under Ranieri, a 2-1 away loss to Sevilla in the Champions League Round of 16, a team with three successive Europa League triumphs, was hardly a distressing one.

Tinkerman returns

In his first stint in England in charge of Chelsea, Ranieri had been dubbed ‘The Tinkerman’ by the local press on account of his frequent chopping and changing of players, tactics and formations.

Last season, Ranieri had by and large stuck to the same starting eleven, on account of several players having the best season of their careers. This season, the loss of N’Golo Kante to Chelsea and defensive instability has seen them change personnel on many an occasion.

They may have comfortably won their Champions League group, but little else has gone right for the English champions this season. At this point in time last season, they were top of the table with 53 points, having won 15 games, scoring 47 goals, losing only two matches. With two-thirds of this season gone, they have 21 points, having won only five of their games, scoring 24 goals, with 14 defeats.

In the form table, Leicester were last, having lost their last five, failing to score even once in those fixtures. They did not fare any better in the FA Cup, losing 1-0 to League One side Millwall.

The players must not be absolved of the blame. Sixty percent of Vardy’s goals had come in a home win over Manchester United, Mahrez had retreated into a shell, a shadow of the player that had won the PFA Player of the Year with three goals and two assists this term, well short of the 17 and 11 that he had managed last season.

In defence, Wes Morgan and Robert Huth have looked every bit of their combined 65 years, conceding 43 till date as compared to 32 the last season. The new signings have failed to take the league by storm and Kante’s replacements – Nampalys Mendy, Daniel Amartey and Wifred Ndidi – have not come close to the effect that the diminutive Frenchman had on feisty midfield battles.

For Leicester and Ranieri, the fairytale has come to a jarring end, a crashing halt. The Italian may not get his statue at the King Power Stadium, but a new man will come in to try and ensure that the Foxes don’t become the first league champions to be relegated since Manchester City in 1938.

In the end, football’s short-termism has claimed another victim, akin to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea the previous year and so many before him. Ranieri dared to fly too close to the sun and he got burnt – Icarus would have been proud.