Claudio Ranieri should be offered “a job for life” at Leicester City, according to Gary Lineker – even if they become the first post-war English champions to be relegated.

Leicester’s calamitous defence of their Premier League crown reached crisis point on Sunday when they lost 2-0 at Swansea City to leave them just one point above the bottom three.

That followed a public vote of confidence in Ranieiri from the club’s owners, a move applauded by Lineker, who said of the Fifa and BBC coach of the year: “I would give him a job for life, but this is football.

“Even if they went down, it would leave a bad taste in the mouth if he was sacked after everything he did for the club last season and the way he handled everything. I would find it terribly sad.”