Ranieri made Fulham players play handball the day before vital Prem games… and it played role in his sacking

FULHAM players were left baffled by Claudio Ranieri’s bizarre training regime of playing handball the day before a game.

Ranieri, 67 was sacked by the Cottagers last month after a disastrous run of just three wins in 17 games has resurfaced for a second stint at Roma.

And SunSport can reveal the experienced Italian coach instead of working on tactical drills and set pieces as his side stared relegation in the face, he would bore the players with an hour of handball.

Things got so bad behind the scenes at Craven Cottage, a group of players approached the club owners to tell them Ranieri was not the man to lead them to safety.

And as the defeats clocked up, Ranieri refused to change his approach, much to the alarm of the squad who were desperate to iron out the problems that got his predecessor Slavisa Jokanovic the boot.

And despite winning his first game in charge against fellow strugglers Southampton, some members of the squad cottoned on quickly his reign would end in tears.

A source told SunSport: “When things are going wrong you expect the manager to try and come up with some answers to get them out of the mess they were in.

“But all they got the day before crucial games when every point counted was a game of handball.

“It got to a point where some of the players had simply had enough and told the owners they have to make a change or they are certain to go down.”

Scott Parker has been asked by owner Shah Khan to pick up the pieces to keep them in the top flight.

Fulham are 13 points from safety and face title-chasing Liverpool on Sunday.