After clinching the first top-flight title of his managerial career, Claudio Ranieri has finally proved his doubters wrong, says former Leicester City defender Patrick Kisnorbo.
Ranieri is the mastermind behind Leicester's remarkable Premier League-winning campaign, which was confirmed with two games to play on Monday after Chelsea held Tottenham to a 2-2 draw.
But Ranieri's appointment was an unpopular one when he replaced Nigel Pearson at the start of the season.
Many questioned Leicester - a 5,000-1 shot to win the title before the season started - for handpicking Ranieri, who had been sacked by Greece in November 2014, after Pearson had dramatically preserved the club's top-flight status.
"That's the disappointing thing about football. People start criticising before something has even happened," Kisnorbo told Omnisport.
"Ranieri has a track record of coaching the biggest teams in the world. Yes, he hadn't come first but there were a lot of seconds and he proved a lot of people wrong.
"The bad thing about our industry is people get criticised for maybe not doing so well at the start and not getting the opportunity [to prove themselves] and here he is now, the gaffer of a Premier League-winning team.
"Whoever doubted him, I'm sure they're licking their wounds now."
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- Goal