Next Leicester City manager latest: Ranieri new Foxes favourite

Another day, and another mature coach in former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri has emerged as favourite to take over the reins at Leicester City.

Coral make Italian gaffer Ranieri even-money to be next Foxes manager, though previous top candidate Martin O’Neill is now close behind at 6/4.

Nicknamed ‘Tinkerman’, Ranieri is from the pragmatic school of management that adapts players and tactics to reflect the opposition – a cause most recently championed by compatriot Cesare Prandelli during four years in charge of the Azzurri national team with mixed results.

Axed from Stamford Bridge in favour of Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2004, Ranieri has not worked in English football since his dismissal by Blues owner Roman Abramovich. Following this, he returned to Valencia and then to his homeland where he has coached extensively.

Spells with Parma, Juventus, Roma and Inter Milan followed before he revived Monaco and returned them to Ligue 1. Ranieri’s last job was a disastrous foray into international management with Greece where he failed to win in four fixtures.

Now 63, there couldn’t be much longevity in Leicester’s Asian owners appointing him, but this a recurring theme with rumoured candidates. The East Midlands outfit’s hierarchy have been linked to O’Neill, Guus Hiddink and Sam Allardyce, who are all aged 60 and above.

Former Foxes player Neil Lennon has seen his odds of taking the job on lengthen considerably from 4/1 to 10/1, but then cut back to 7/1, after appearing to distance himself from a return to the club.

“I’ve got nothing I can say, it’s speculation,” Bolton Wanderers boss Lennon told local media after his current club’s first pre-season friendly. “It’s easy linking me with the Leicester job being an ex-player. I think I’m one of about 27 that has been linked with the job over the last week, so it’s all I can say on it really.”

If 4/1 relegation chances Leicester are looking to an Italian coach, then another ex-Chelsea boss in Roberto Di Matteo is available and 12/1 to take them on.