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Roy Hodgson
Roy Hodgson, who was disappointed to miss out on the Crystal Palace job, has come into the frame as a potential replacement for Claudio Ranieri. Photograph: David Davies/PA
Roy Hodgson, who was disappointed to miss out on the Crystal Palace job, has come into the frame as a potential replacement for Claudio Ranieri. Photograph: David Davies/PA

Leicester City talk to Roy Hodgson as Craig Shakespeare steadies the ship

This article is more than 7 years old
Former England manager approached over vacancy
Claudio Ranieri’s assistant in charge against Hull City

Craig Shakespeare is set to be given the opportunity to prove he is capable of taking charge of Leicester City until the end of the season, despite the Premier League champions holding talks with Roy Hodgson about the prospect of becoming their manager.

Hodgson is understood to have been sounded out before Monday night’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool, when Leicester produced a stirring performance that eased the pressure on the club’s Thai owners to bring in a permanent replacement for Claudio Ranieri and also strengthened Shakespeare’s chances of landing the job for the remainder of the campaign.

Shakespeare, Ranieri’s former assistant, has made no secret of the fact that he would like to become manager and there is a feeling within the club that it would be hard to look beyond him for the final 11 Premier League matches, if he follows up the hugely impressive win over Liverpool with another three points at home against Hull City on Saturday.

As well as enjoying the support of the players, Shakespeare is highly regarded by the club’s director of football, Jon Rudkin, who has the ear of the owners, and everyone at Leicester has been impressed with the way the 53-year-old has handled himself since he was thrust into the spotlight in the wake of Ranieri’s dismissal last Thursday. Giving Shakespeare the role for the rest of the season would also allow Leicester to reassess their options in the summer, when the managerial landscape may well look very different, especially as some potential candidates would be reluctant to walk away from jobs until then.

Hodgson’s name has come into the frame as part of the exploratory discussions that Leicester have held with a number of people, including Guus Hiddink, with a view to an immediate appointment. Yet the former England coach, who is keen to return to management and was bitterly disappointed to miss out on the Crystal Palace job to Sam Allardyce in December, is unlikely to get an opportunity at Leicester unless things unravel under Shakespeare.

There is also the question of whether Hodgson would be willing to take on the Leicester challenge, especially if more weeks slip by. The 69-year-old has vast experience, including a proven track record when it comes to keeping relegation-threatened clubs in the Premier League, yet he had more time to get to grips with the players at Fulham in 2007‑08 and West Bromwich Albion in 2010‑11.

Shakespeare knows the Leicester squad inside out and will realise that much could hinge on the Hull match. Leicester, who climbed out of the relegation zone and up to 15th place after beating Liverpool, are still only three points and four places above Hull. A win would give them breathing space, especially with their next game not until 14 March, when Sevilla are at the King Power Stadium for the second leg of the Champions League last-16 tie.

Survival, however, is the be-all and end-all for Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and that is why the chairman sacked Ranieri, after deciding that he no longer trusted the Italian to keep Leicester in the Premier League. With the players stung by the criticism they received in the aftermath, amid accusations that they were involved in Ranieri’s downfall, there was always likely to be a reaction against Liverpool. The key now is whether Shakespeare can get those same players to reproduce another dynamic display against Hull.

All the feedback from the dressing room has been encouraging, with Shakespeare’s decision to restore Shinji Okazaki to the starting line-up and play with a conventional 4-4-2, in which there was an emphasis on pressing much higher up the pitch, seen as positive moves and a return to the sort of tactics that proved so successful last season.

Asked whether he would back Shakespeare for the job, the full-back Danny Simpson replied: “I can’t see why not. But it is the chairman’s decision. It is up to him, he owns the club. All we can do is do what we did against Liverpool and try to put things right. We have to carry that on.”

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