Roma turn to Ranieri to halt the slide

In his relatively short time in English football, Claudio Ranieri became pretty universally loved by English fans. He was always well mannered, polite, sporting and pleasant.

Tactically

Tactically he was pretty good too and people tend to forget how far he had taken Chelsea prior to the arrival of Jose Mourinho. Let us not forget that Ranieri took the Blues to a Champions League semi-final which equals anything the ‘Special One’ managed to achieve.

Unfortunately for Ranieri, he earned the nickname ‘the tinker man’ because he was forever fiddling around with formations and players’ positions. He did so to catastrophic effect in the afore-mentioned Champions League semi-final when his ‘tinkering’ probably cost them a place in the final.

Ranieri has now signed a two-year deal to manage Roma in Serie A. The team have lost their first two league games and Ranieri says he is prepared to give the players a shock,

“They certainly need a shock because this team needs to react immediately. Maybe the lads have lost a bit of conviction.”

Former manager Luciano Spalletti resigned last week after the two defeats. He had started well with the club after taking over in 2005, winning the Italian Cup and finishing Serie A runners-up in 2007 and 2008. Last season, however, saw a drop in form and a sixth placed finish. That, together with the rotten start to this season, saw the end of him.

Sacked

Ranieri was sacked as manager of Juventus in May after a run of seven matches without a win, despite the fact that he had taken them to third in the table on their return to Serie A in 2008.

The fifty-seven year old Ranieri is one of the World’s most experienced managers. Roma become the eleventh team he has managed in his twenty-two year managerial career. He has managed in Italy, Spain and England and made friends wherever he has been.

Impressive

His record is impressive. He took Cagliari from Serie C to Serie A in successive seasons. At Fiorentina he won promotion to Serie A and won the Italian Cup. At Valencia, Ranieri tasted Champions League success and Spanish Cup victory. With Chelsea he finished runners-up in the Premier League and got to a Champions League semi-final. Maybe his most impressive performance was at Parma where he saved the side from relegation.

Whilst not being talked about in the same league of managers as Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, Louis Van Gaal, Guus Hiddink and others, there is no doubt that Ranieri is not far behind the very best. He has had a great career and I fully expect him to turn Roma around from where they currently find themselves.

Roma could not have picked a better man.