Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City had a fairytale 2015-16 Barclays Premier League season. The Foxes have been crowned as the champions of England a couple of nights back as Chelsea held a formidable Tottenham Hotspur side to a 2-2 stalemate at Stamford Bridge.
Although Leicester City, partly, owes the historic night to a valiant Guus Hiddink-led Chelsea side, the 69-year-old Dutch manager, in a recent interview given to the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraph has revealed a year-old fact which might sound a bit unbelievable at this point of time.
According to Guus Hiddink, the King Power Stadium-based side had approached the current Chelsea caretaker manager to take charge of the footballing aspect of the club at the beginning of the 2015-16 Barclays Premier League season. However, the Dutch manager insisted that he didn’t accept Leicester’s offer solely because of personal reasons.
During the 2014-15 football season, Leicester City was marooned at the bottom of the English Premier League table for almost four and a half months. As a result, the club appointed Nigel Pearson as the interim manager who provided the football club with a much-needed turn-around.
The Foxes, under Nigel Pearson, went on to win seven of its last ten league matches to finish at a respectable 14th position on the league table at the end of the 2014-15 Premier League season. However, the club soon announced that it had parted ways with Nigel Pearson and that, evidently, was a bolt from the blues for the Leicester supporters.
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According to Guus Hiddink, the Foxes management had approached the Dutch soon after Nigel Pearson’s sacking and went on to pursue the former Greece manager, Claudio Ranieri only after the former turned down the Leicester offer.
“It is true that Leicester asked me (to be their coach) for this season,” Hiddink told De Telegraaf. The Dutch, later, added, “But I had decided this was a time for rest, and I wanted to do just nothing.”
“The club was in a negative flow and there was panic. It was my task to restore a calm atmosphere and that happened. If we kept losing, even to a club as Chelsea could have gotten in big problems. Just like nobody expected that Leicester became champions… That could have happened,” Hiddink told the Dutch daily.
Later, on a different note, Hiddink added, ”It turned out a great half season and I want to close it good with these last three matches. I don't regret it for one moment that I said 'yes' to Chelsea. The Premier League is top of the bill and it's fantastic that I could have a second spell.”
