Watford boss Ranieri made Fulham players play handball the day before vital games… and it played role in his sacking
SunSport lifts the lid on the Italian coach's bizarre training methods which lead to his axing after just 17 games at Craven Cottage
FULHAM players were left baffled by Claudio Ranieri’s bizarre training regime of playing HANDBALL the day before games.
Ranieri, who was sacked by the Cottagers in February 2019 after a disastrous run of just three wins in 17 games, has returned to the Premier League, and will take charge of his first game later today against Liverpool.
And SunSport can reveal the experienced Italian would bore the players with an hour of handball - rather than work on tactical drills and set-pieces as his side stared relegation in the face.
Things got so bad behind the scenes at Craven Cottage, that a group of players approached the club owners to tell them Ranieri was not the man to lead them to safety.
As the defeats clocked up Ranieri refused to change his approach, much to the alarm of the squad who were desperate to iron out the problems that got his predecessor, Slavisa Jokanovic, the boot.
And despite winning his first game in charge against fellow strugglers Southampton, some members of the squad cottoned on quickly that Ranieri's reign would end in tears.
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A source told SunSport: “When things are going wrong you expect the manager to try and come up with some answers to get them out of the mess they were in.
“But all they got the day before crucial games when every point counted was a game of handball.
“It got to a point where some of the players had simply had enough and told the owners they have to make a change or they are certain to go down.”
Scott Parker succeed Ranieri but failed to keep them in the top-flight, a failure he repeated last season after winning promotion in 2020.
Now Ranieri is tasked with keeping Watford in the Premier League following a run of just two wins in seven league games.
