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Claudio Ranieri

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
AT exactly 11:20pm on Monday, King Power Stadium was illuminated by sights and sounds of a moving mobile phone-lit tribute as thousands of fans of English football champions Leicester City, honoured their sacked title-winning coach Claudio Ranieri.

The 65th minute tribute was choreographed to start, in their game against Liverpool, at the very minute which represented the age of the Italian gaffer who helped them defy 5000-1 odds to complete what is widely considered the most beautiful story ever written in football.

Ironically, just nine months ago, King Power Stadium had provided the stage for the Foxes’ coronation as the most unlikely champions in the history of this game while an estimated 240 000 people lined up the streets of Leicester to witness the club’s open-top bus parade as they celebrated their finest hour.

Monday night’s tribute to Ranieri exploded exactly 24 hours and 40 minutes to the minute when, thousands of kilometres away in Harare, another divorce between a trailblazing coach and his employers would be officially sealed to end weeks in which their ugly separation had dominated newspaper headlines.

As of today, Callisto Pasuwa is no longer the Warriors coach, once again a free man who is not bound by the contract he signed with ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa in February last year, who can now pursue the interests being shown by a number of both domestic and foreign entities trying to secure his services.

And the Association, who triggered this divorce on the advice of their High Performance Committee in the wake of the Warriors’ group stage elimination from the 2017 African Cup of Nations which they deemed represented a failed adventure, also have the freedom to begin their search for a new coach without worrying about violating any contractual agreements they had with Pasuwa.

Callisto Pasuwa

But, how did it come to all this?

For Claudio and for Callisto!

How did these relationships, which appeared made-in-heaven and set for the long haul, end in such spectacular, if not acrimonious, circumstances which have strained the relationship between the two coaches and their former employers?

And, for those still haunted by how Pasuwa — who made their dreams come true again as he led a team plagued by a punishing weight of poor results and which had been staggering in the gloom of failure for a decade — ended up being pushed out of his job a year earlier than had been expected, the brutality related to Ranieri’s axing would probably provide some answers.

In the unforgiving trenches of football, it appears a trend is now emerging — either here at home or in other countries — where the success of the past can no longer provide the guarantees of an extended relationship between the coaches and their employers.

Pasuwa and Ranieri’s tales provide an interesting similar storyline.

The two coaches were handed responsibilities to lead teams, terribly short on confidence but long on ambition after they had both seemingly lost their way in the game, at around the same time two years ago .

The Warriors were still smarting from their humiliating preliminary round failure in the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers and the Foxes had flirted with relegation just a few months before Rainieri’s arrival.

Only two months separated the appointments of Pasuwa and Ranieri into the hot seats, with the former Dynamos midfielder taking over in May 2015 and the Italian assuming control at Leicester in July the same year.

And, in both cases, there was a wave of pessimism from some people, including some influential individuals, who felt they were both not well equipped to handle the challenges.

Although Pasuwa had won four straight league titles with Dynamos, his critics deemed him a relative lightweight when it comes to football on the continent, pointing to his struggles with the Glamour Boys in the CAF Champions League as the reason for their doubts in his pedigree to mastermind the Warriors’ resurgence.

Ranieri’s appointment at Leicester City, following his dismissal as the Greece national team coach after an embarrassing loss to the lightweights of the Faroe islands, was also questioned with the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, Gary Lineker, a former England captain who also hosts the BBC Match of the Day programme, describing it as an “uninspired” decision.

“Claudio Ranieri is clearly experienced but it’s an uninspired choice by Leicester, it’s amazing how the same old names keep getting a go on the managerial merry-go-round,” said Lineker.

But, 10 months later, Lineker was being forced to eat humble pie after the Italian gaffer masterminded one of the greatest success stories in the history of football, transforming a club that was bottom of the table on Christmas Day in 2014, into league champions in May 2016.

Ranieri was named the FIFA Coach of the Year, the Coach of the Year in the English Premiership and was feted by a number of prestigious honours in his native Italy but, just nine months into the defence of his club’s league title, he had been blown away by the winds of change as the club’s Thai owners felt he had lost his way with Leicester City struggling in the relegation waters.

There were reports the coach had lost the dressing room, which had turned toxic amid allegations some players now felt he wasn’t good enough to remain in charge of the club, with Jamie Vardy — who had top-scored for the team on their way to league championship glory — being fingered in the plot for the Italian’s dismissal.

Jose Mourinho, who was also sacked just months after winning the English Premiership title with Chelsea, wore a Manchester United shirt that had the inscriptions “CR” instead of “JM” at a media conference last week as he paid tribute to his Italian counterpart.

“It is my little homage to somebody who wrote the most beautiful story of the Premier League. Somebody who deserves the stadium to be named Claudio Ranieri (Stadium) and he is sacked,” the Portuguese gaffer said.

“Leicester made history two years in a row — because they did the most beautiful thing in the Premier League and one of most beautiful things in football history. Now they are also in the highlights with the decision that has united everyone in football because it is something very difficult to accept.

“It’s Claudio’s fault because of last season, instead of being champion he finished 12th, it would be amazing and he would still be in a job, because Leicester play not to be relegated. He’s paid for his success.”

And, as the domestic football family begins to adjust to the reality that Pasuwa — who helped the Warriors qualify for their first Nations Cup finals in 10 years, engineered their return to the African Games after a lengthy absence and took them to another CHAN finals — will not be in charge when the 2019 AFCON qualifiers get underway in June, those who believe in him will, maybe, find answers in Mourinho’s words as to why the coach is no longer around.