Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson admits he is saddened to see Claudio Ranieri sacked by Fulham, claiming he ‘did nothing professionally’ to deserve it.
The Cottagers pulled the trigger and sacked Ranieri earlier on Thursday, just 106 days after he was appointed as Slavisa Jokanovic’s successor, with the Italian winning just three of his 17 games in charge.
Former Fulham midfielder and coach Scott Parker has been placed in charge temporarily in a caretaker role until the end of the season.
Speaking about his former club, where he was manager between 2007 and 2010, Hodgson admitted that he was disappointed to see Ranieri get the boot.
As reported by Sky Sports, Hodgson said:
Fulham are a club very close to my heart. I had two-and-a-half wonderful years there and it’s sad to see they’ve taken this type of decision.
I feel a lot of empathy with Claudio Ranieri. He came in to do the job that was asked of him and has done it with great dignity.
Obviously it has been hard for him to turn around results which were not there in the first place when he came.
They’ve had two very good coaches in [Slavisa] Jokanovic and Ranieri and lost them both. I suppose they’ll have to look for a third one.
My sympathy is always with the manager in that situation because I’m 100 per cent certain Ranieri has done nothing professionally to deserve it.
