After just one win in 12 Premier League games Fulham have sacked manager Slavisa Jokanovic, replacing him with Premier League winner Claudio Ranieri, who famously took Leicester to a surprise title victory in 2016.
Things have moved fast over in London, with the announcement that Ranieri was to return to the English Top Division mere moments after the news broke that current manager Jokanovic had been given the boot.
The Italian takes over with The Cottagers sitting bottom of the Premier League with just five points – two points behind 19th placed Huddersfield and three points from safety.
It is believed that Ranieri, 67, has been given a “multi-year” contract by the London club.
Fulham Chairman Shahid Khan said, “Claudio is risk-free and ready-made for the Premier League, and particularly so for what we need at this moment at Fulham.”
After leading Leicester to the Premier League trophy in 2016 amidst poor seasons all-round for the usual ‘top 6’ clubs, he was let go the following year as Leicester struggled to cope with the added workload of the Champions League and losing a number of their star players to other clubs.
Ranieri has been in charge of French club Nantes ever since his departure from England, but it is his pedigree of working with some of Europe’s biggest teams, the likes of Chelsea, Monaco, Inter Milan, Roma, Juventus, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Fiorentina and Napoli, to name just a few.
Jokanovic Struggles in The Premier League
The Serbian joined Fulham in 2015 and led them to promotion to the top flight via the play-offs last season.
Whilst he managed to do well in The Championship, The Premier League seemed a step too far for the former defensive midfielder as The Cottagers have registered just one win so far this campaign.
“Slavisa will always have my appreciation and respect for everything he did to return Fulham to top-flight football,” said Khan.
Whilst he may not be able to pull another Premier League Trophy out of the hat, can he still pull Fulham out of the muck and secure survival in England’s top flight? “Dilly Ding Dilly Dong.”
