Claudio Ranieri has said he does not blame Leicester City's players for his sacking, telling La Gazzetta dello Sport their Premier League title win had "gifted a fairytale to the world."
Ranieri was sacked just nine months after leading the Foxes to last season's incredible triumph, with his final game in charge being the 2-1 Champions League first leg defeat in Sevilla.
But he said he believed their performance in that round-of-16 game showed they were turning the corner after a dismal title defence had left them in danger of relegation.
"After winning the English league with a team who had never finished so high, and gifted a fairytale to the whole of the world, you do at least expect to be given a bit of leeway in the event things do not go well," he said.
"It was to be expected that after the celebrations, contracts quadrupled or quintupled, there would be some problems getting going again.
"The Sevilla game, in which we held our own against the side who had won the last three Europa Leagues, was a sign that Leicester was on the way back. I was relaxed after that game, and yet..."
He said the decision to remove him from his post at the King Power stadium was "upsetting," but added: "Football's like that."
It had been rumoured that a players' revolt was behind the club's decision, but Ranieri said he was "100 percent certain" that was not the case.
He added: "I never had problems with the players. Our extraordinary fairytale enabled many of them to quadruple their wages."
Speaking on Sky Sports earlier, Ranieri added: "I don't believe rumours the players spoke to the Leicester owners about sacking me.
"The players got to experience something totally different. In preseason they played against big teams, went all over the world. I don't believe the players killed me."
However, Ranieri did allude to someone behind the scenes having an involvement in his dismissal, although he would not name names.
"I listened to a lot of stories about this," he added. "Maybe it could be someone behind me, but maybe the little problem I had before the title, maybe they push a little more when we lose this year.
"I don't want to tell. I am a serious man, a loyal man. What I have to say, I say face-to-face."
Ranieri said assistant Craig Shakespeare, in charge until the end of the season was not to blame for his dismissal.
"He always acted in faith with me," he said. "He was a good assistant. I don't know who it was [who contributed to his sacking], and I don't care either.
"I am not the one to be jealous, envious or get involved in power struggles. All I can say is that there were a lot of problems within Leicester last season."