Alternative PL Preview: Ranieri mask amnesty, Charlie Adam might eat a pie and 'proper football men'

Leicester City to hold a Claudio Ranieri mask amnesty

It’s over. Dilly ding dilly gone. If last season at Leicester City was football’s most magical fairytale, this season must be its most sobering dose of realism. Claudio Ranieri is no longer the manager at the King Power Stadium and with his sacking on Thursday evening another little piece of football’s soul died.

Leicester were quick to cover their tracks upon the announcement, deleting a previous tweet stating the club’s support for Ranieri, also changing a social media banner depicted the Italian. Now, before Monday’s home match against Liverpool, they will ask their fans to hand back every mask of Ranieri’s face they wore over the course of the past 18 months. They want those free donuts back as well.

The Sun will offer odds on Charlie Adam to eat a pie live on air

The rise and fall of Wayne Shaw was non-league football’s very own Greek tragedy. The Sutton United goalkeeper had barely taken his final bite of his pie before suspicion over his actions arose. Indeed, while it turns out Nicklas Bendtner can keep his job after wearing Paddy Power pants at the Euros, Shaw couldn’t after seemingly colluding with The Sun.

But The Sun won’t stop in offering odds on players to eat a pie on the bench. Charlie Adam will be offered at 10/1, with Sam Allardyce not far behind at 12/1. Surely one of them will tuck into a delicious pocket of pastry at some point over the weekend? Proper Football Men eat Proper Football Food.

Paul Clement to pick up Carlo Ancelotti’s left behind belongings

Stamford Bridge is a place Paul Clement knows well. He spent four years as a coach there, working under Carlo Ancelotti during his time as Chelsea manager. He will walk through the ground with an air of the apprentice good as he takes his Swansea City side to face league-leaders Chelsea on Saturday. But when nobody’s looking, he’ll sneak into the manager’s office.

Ancelotti was shuffled out of the Stamford Bridge exit before he had a chance to gather his belongings. The Italian was afforded no dignity as he was handed a cardboard box in the car park, and so Clements will embark on an incognito mission to get some of his stuff back. Somewhere in the Chelsea manager’s office there is a map of Florent Malouda’s whereabouts. There’s also the secret to keeping Nicolas Anelka. Oh and some eyebrow wax. Mustn’t forget the eyebrow wax.

BT Sport to broadcast FIFA 17 games rather than Watford v West Ham

Earlier this week BT Sport penned a deal to broadcast live FIFA 17 matches for the first time, with the football world divided by the announcement. E-sports are growing in popularity and credibility, with the prospect of them being included in the Olympics raised recently. Regardless of such division, though, we can all agree that watching teenagers play video games will be better than watching Watford face West Ham on Saturday.

And so with Jake Humphrey contemplated the prospect of a game that should never be shown on live television BT Sport will quickly swift over to a FIFA 17 and hope that nobody notices. Of course, they won’t. And if they do, they won’t complain.

Paul Merson to have an aneurism as Marco Silva and Sean Dyche shake hands

Every so often Paul Merson wakes himself up with mutterings of ‘Gary Rowett, Gary Rowett, Gary Rowett.’ Even after all this time, he just can’t work out why the young Englishman, who had never managed in the Premier League and had only ever done a half decent job in the Championship, didn’t get the Hull City job.

Merson has been on the brink for weeks, clutching the leg of Phil Thompson every time Hull score a goal or record a good result under Silva. The sight of Sean Dyche, the embodiment of English football’s suppressed coaching circuit, shaking the hand of the Silva, will push him over the edge. Will Jeff Stelling be able to stop him from screeching ‘GARY ROWETT, GARY ROWETT, GARY ROWETT’?