Leicester City

Guus Hiddink turned down Leicester City job after Claudio Ranieri sacking

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 02 April 2017

Former Chelsea caretaker boss Guus Hiddink claims to have "said no" to taking charge of Leicester City, but believes that Craig Shakespeare was the ideal choice.

Guus Hiddink has revealed that he turned down the chance to manage Leicester City after they made an 'indirect' approach for his services in February.

The Dutchman has experience of coaching in the Premier League with Chelsea, twice taking over on an interim basis to steady the ship at Stamford Bridge.

Hiddink claims to have been approached to take on a similar firefighting role with champions Leicester, who controversially parted company with Claudio Ranieri after dropping into the relegation mire.

However, the 70-year-old believes that City made the right call in appointing Ranieri's deputy Craig Shakespeare until the end of the campaign, with four wins from four following in the Premier League.

"To be strictly correct, I didn't talk directly with Leicester. But you know how the line goes. 'They think of you...'. They asked not directly but indirectly, but I said no," he told The Times. "If you have decided to sack Ranieri, why don't you go with your number two guy?

"Shakespeare knows the club, knows the players. Why don't you go there, you will see what will happen, I said. Happily I was right. Liverpool didn't know what hit them [in Shakespeare's first game]. Within 20 minutes, 2-0. And five days later Leicester won at Hull. The relegation problem was solved in five days."

As well as transforming Leicester's league fortunes, Shakespeare - brought to the East Midlands by Nigel Pearson - has also guided his side into the last eight of the Champions League.