Leicester City: Claudio Ranieri's remarkable season leaves his rivals with no excuse for failure

The Italian has turned water into wine and every Premier League owner may now expect their manager to do the same

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri (Getty)

Claudio Ranieri will win the Manager of the Year award by a landslide this season, but the man who has guided Leicester City to the brink of the most remarkable title triumph in English football history may well have each and every one of his managerial rivals cursing as they register their vote for the Italian.

The 64-year-old is a popular figure among his contemporaries, an affable and approachable man who has fought back from adversity - losing to the Faroe Isles as Greece manager should have finished him off - to enjoy an incredible renaissance at Leicester, yet do not under-estimate the problems he has created for those managers who now face the challenge of toppling him next season.

By overseeing Leicester’s unprecedented transformation from relegation candidates to title favourites, Ranieri has simply ensured that every Premier League manager must now work in an environment where there are simply no excuses for failure.

When David Moyes was sacked as Manchester United in April 2014, the Scot complained that he would have approached the job differently had he realised he would be judged so quickly and ruthlessly.

Yet Moyes inherited the Premier League champions, and while the squad was an ageing one in need of restructuring, it was nonetheless a pool of players which included David de Gea in goal, the defensive axis of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic and a pair of goalscorers by the name of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.

Ranieri, in contrast, took charge of a Leicester squad which, despite having won seven of its last nine games to stay in the Premier League under Nigel Pearson last season, was dismissed by all as a group of players who would do well to produce a second successive Great Escape this season.

Kasper Schmeichel was a journeyman goalkeeper, destined to live in the shadow of the achievements of his father, Peter, while Wes Morgan and Robert Huth were a pair of centre-halves thrown together at the end of their unremarkable careers, both in their thirties, and seemingly regarded as good for nothing more than digging out survival points with their nous and experience.

Wes Morgan applauds the King Power's home support after the win over Southampton (Getty)

Marc Albrighton was merely an Aston Villa cast-off, while Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson were simply doing well to enjoy a second bite at a top-flight career after failing to make the grade at Manchester United as youngsters.

But here they all are, with six Premier League games left to play, sitting at the top of the league table, having built a seven-point lead over Tottenham Hotspur and now requiring just 12 points to guarantee the club’s first-ever league championship.

It has also gone largely unnoticed that five more points will secure Champions League qualification - an achievement which could become a reality this weekend if results go in Leicester’s favour.

No surprise, then, that Leicester’s official Twitter account posted a reminder of the position the team occupied on April 3, 2015, following Sunday’s 1-0 victory at home to Southampton.

On that date 12 months ago, Leicester were bottom of the Premier League, seven points from safety. A year on, they moved seven points clear at the summit.

And this is why Ranieri has made life so much more difficult for every one of his nineteen managerial rivals in the Premier League.

If Leicester can achieve a football miracle, then why not Everton, Stoke City, Newcastle, West Bromwich Albion and the rest?

Leicester fans celebrate an important three points on Sunday (Getty)

And if Leicester can win the Premier League, how on earth can United, Manchester City and Liverpool find themselves scrapping for the fourth and final Champions League qualification position having spent fortunes on new players last summer?

As for Chelsea, well, the least said about their fall from grace, the better for all concerned at Stamford Bridge.

Ranieri has embarrassed every one of his rivals this season by performing a miracle at Leicester.

Jurgen Klopp and Louis van Gaal have complained bitterly about injuries at Liverpool and United, Manuel Pellegrini has somehow succeeded in performing reverse alchemy at City, while Arsene Wenger has once again allowed his tactical myopia to ruin Arsenal’s best hope of the title in over a decade.

But Ranieri has turned water into wine at Leicester and, in doing so, has laid the template that every Premier League owner will expect his manager to follow.

There can be no more excuses, no more demands for patience and ‘time to turn things around.’

Ranieri has just got on with the job, made the best of the hand he was dealt and played his cards magnificently.

It is now up to the rest to do the same, but they will not thank the smiling Roman for making their lives so much more unbearable next season.

Jack the Lad needs a quiet night-in

Every footballer is entitled to a social life, but it would not be the worst thing for Jack Wilshere if somebody was to have a quiet word with the Arsenal midfielder about the best way to spend his spare time.

Perhaps it was the giddiness of finally returning to full training after almost ten months on the sidelines with injury that prompted the 24-year-old to remain in a London nightclub until the early hours of Sunday morning, but still, it hardly suggests he is busting a gut to play again this season and break into England’s Euro 2016 squad.

Who will take a chance on Zlatan?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 30th league goal of the season with a hat-trick during Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-1 victory against Nice at the weekend.

It will have served as a warning to Manchester City ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first-leg in Paris, but also a reminder that, even at 34, the Swede will destroy Premier League defences if an English club is bold enough to move for him this summer.