The £3m man – Leicester City’s Claudio Ranieri will need to earn his money this season

So what does £3m pound a year get you? A Premier League winning manager it would appear. The amount allegedly being paid to Claudio Ranieri upon signing his new contract following winning the top-flight title back in May.

But now it is time for Mr Ranieri to earn his money. Last year was amazing. The most amazing year in the club’s history, but it was last year and we cannot live on that for ever.

But it is, as they say, harder to hold onto something than it is to win it in the first place. And so it is looking to be in the case of Leicester City as they go into the 2016/17 looking to retain their champion status.

Italian Ranieri signed a new four-year deal as Foxes boss before the 2016/17 campaign – Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

Now before anyone starts this is NOT a moan or a ‘Claudio Out’ rant. It is far to early to make any judgement on the players or management and it would be ridiculous to form any this early in the season, but in the early games, it does look like City are suffering from a hangover from last season’s exertions.

You see the problem is expectations. The better the club does, the more the fans expect. Yes we won the title last year, but as I have said many times, a lot of things went in our favour.

Arsenal despite beating us twice were, well Arsenal. Tottenham imploded at the end of the season, Chelsea imploded at the start of the season, and despite changing managers, never recovered.

Manchester City shot themselves in the foot with the announcement of the new managerial appointment way too early. Manchester United and Liverpool flattered to deceive and Leicester sneaked through the lot of them to take top spot and win the title. Our perfect storm year I called it.

So yes, my expectations are high. Yes I expect us to play with the same passion and flair as was shown last season. Yes I expect us to be challenging for something this season. But when I take off my blue tinted glasses, whilst I still expect all that, I don’t expect a repeat of last year.

But with a pre-season that was odd to say the least, Leicester City have come out of the traps looking like they have got lead football boots on. Gone were the trips down the road to Burton Albion and Nuneaton et al.

This pre-season we started at Oxford United and ended up in Stockholm via Glasgow and Los Angeles. Yes, odd to say the least. A prestigious tournament like the ICC Champions Cup may not, after all, have been the best preparation.

Too many changes that you can get away with against lower division English teams proved fatal against top opposition like Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona.

This took us to the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium against a rebuilt Manchester United side. Leicester started with pretty much the line-up that began most games last season, Andy King was the only new starter in for the departed N’Golo Kante, so hopes were high.

But in a poor first-half, Leicester looked a shadow of last season’s team. A better second-half and we were unlucky to lose by the odd goal. But at least we had some form to take into our first league game as defending champions.

And who was that first game against? Newly promoted Hull City were the hosts, with a squad made up of only 13 fit first-team players and no first-team manager. It was almost a case of not if Leicester will win, but by how many.

But very often football games don’t stick to the script and Leicester became the first team to lose the opening game of the defence of their Premier League title.

Taken as a one-off, it could be put down as a bad day at the office. But following on from a very indifferent pre-season, maybe the ‘Dilly Dong’ noises you could hear were warning bells going off.

The Premier League champions were beaten 2-1 by newly promoted Hull on Saturday afternoon – Photo: Mark Leech / Offside.

No Kante, Danny Drinkwater not as good without him? No Robert Huth, Luis Hernandez not as good a replacement? Jamie Vardy and Ahmed Musa not combining well, Vardy leaving his scoring boots at home? Mahrez’s mind not on playing for Leicester?

All reasons that have popped up in the media in whatever form as excuses. But for a team that lost only three games in all last season, it is not an auspicious start to the new one.

For me, I think it was the proverbial bad day at the office. But whatever the reason, only one man can sort it out. The £3m man, Mr Ranieri.

This is the season when he will really earn his money, a season when so much more is expected and that weight of expectation will need to be handled – But in Claudio we trust!