Leicester Set To Give Shakespeare His Next Act

After the sacking of Claudio Ranieri from Leicester, Assistant Manager Craig Shakespeare was then installed as caretaker boss by the club owners. A decision that looks somewhat inspired as he has led the defending Premier League champions to back to back wins over Liverpool and Hull City.

And it’s those two results which have strengthened the position of the 53 year old at The King Power with the belief now being that Shakespeare will be offered the job of Manager until the end of the season.

As always in this situations you do have to wonder if it is a marriage of convenience with the club arguably not being able to get their main targets and those same targets arguably not wanting to take a job until the clubs top flight status has been confirmed or not.

Last week it was reported that the club owners had undergone informal talks with former England manager Roy Hodgson but nothing came about at the time and in addition to that it was not a move which was necessarily welcomed by Leicester fans.

But they certainly would have welcomed the fact that a maximum 6 point haul from their last two home games has seen them develop some breathing space between themselves and Middlesbrough in 18^th place.

After the crisis which loomed when Leicester fell into the bottom three, the outcome now looks much more clear in comparison and a lot of the praise has to go Shakespeare who has simplified Leicester’s game plan and got the players playing again.

How much of that is fully down to Shakespeare and how much of that is down to the players simply not fancying it under Ranieri can be argued and is going to be somewhat of a blurred line as we’re never really going to know what went on behind the scenes.

But with the managerial status all but confirmed until May the sole focus will be making sure that their defence of the Premier League title is not the ultimate crash and burn by facing the ignominy of relegation just 12 months after that fairytale success.

Should Shakespeare manage to keep Leicester up then he will of course throw his hat into the ring for a full time shot at being manager but if he does secure the clubs top flight status then it will become a very attractive prospect to the likes of Hodgson and others such as Roberto Mancini and Guus Hiddink.

Shakespeare has obviously made no secret of wanting the job and this will be the perfect audition to earning the gig on a permanent basis. The next few weeks will be very interesting here in the East Midlands that is for sure.