Liverpool legend Steve McMahon says he does not know why Fulham appointed Claudio Ranieri as their manager and has written off his title win with Leicester City as a fluke.

Ranieri defied the odds to lead Leicester to Premier League title success in 2016, however was sacked the following year after a poor run of results at the King Power Stadium.




Struggling Fulham turned to the Italian in November this season, but with little improvement in results pulled the trigger in February, with Scott Parker taking over on an interim basis.

Liverpool lock horns with Fulham on Sunday and McMahon, previewing the game for LFC TV, admits he is at a loss to know why Ranieri was appointed.
 


The Reds legend feels the Italian's Leicester title win was nothing more than a fluke and feels Parker should have been given the job ahead of Ranieri.

"Why didn't they give it to him first time around?" McMahon said.
 

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"Why Ranieri? OK, he did fantastic with Leicester, but that was a fluke – and everyone has seen that.

"Give him [Parker] the chance. He could have had seven or eight more games to see if he could turn it around and build for next season.

"He is young, enthusiastic, probably has loads of respect in the dressing room. My question would be, is he too nice?"

Ranieri has quickly bounced back from his Fulham sacking by being given the coach's job at Roma, something else which leaves McMahon baffled.

"His [Ranieri’s] reward for being sacked at Fulham is Roma. How do you work that one out?"

Fulham face a virtual mission impossible to survive in the Premier League, having collected just 17 points from 30 games, while conceding a whopping 68 goals.