Claudio's finally a title winner

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Friday 14^th November 2014 and Claudio Ranieri looked like a lost soul in the world of football management. Standing on the touchline in Athens, he could only look on in horror at one of the biggest upsets in a football match.

The tiny Faroe Islands had just beaten his Greece side 1-0 through a Joan Edmundsson strike. The Faroes were ranked 187 in the world at the time in a result that drew comparisons to a 1991 win for the same country against Austria. Greece were now bottom of Group F with just one point from four games and their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 were now over.

A day later, Ranieri was fired as coach of the Euro 2004 winners. After 28 years in football management, his career looked all but over.

On Tuesday morning, he woke up as a Premier League title winner after spearheading Leicester City to the biggest upset in sporting history as the Foxes became champions of England.

Mocked by many after the Greek nightmare on his appointment, the media are now dubbing him ‘King Claudio.’ He becomes only the second Italian manager to win the Premier League crown.

So, how did he do it?

Accepting mistakes

Ranieri was quick to accept his mistake in taking the Greece post following the 2014 World Cup. Shortly after being confirmed as Nigel Pearson’s successor at the King Power Stadium, he gave an interview to the Leicester Mercury where he admitted he’d made a bad move.

“I made a mistake when I was manager of Greece. I wanted to look because it is a different job at a club to a national team. I had four matches and for each game I trained the players for just three days. That is 12 days of training. What can I do in just 12 days? I had to rebuild a national team in just 12 days. What could I do? I am not a magician.”

He hasn’t been afraid to do this at any stage of his lengthy managerial career, which has largely been spent in Italy and Spain. When Chelsea crashed out of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2004 to AS Monaco, Ranieri admitted he “lost the plot” with some of his tactical decisions during the first leg in the principality. It didn’t help him when he eventually lost the Chelsea job but it is an honest approach which not all managers hold.

Claudio Ranieri is finally a major title winner after 28 years in management

Maybe that is why league success had eluded him up to this point. He has won second-tier titles with Fiorentina in 1994 and AS Monaco in 2013 but no major top-flight title.

For once, nice guys do win and that is a rare commodity. You can’t say a bad word about Claudio Ranieri (pictured). His personality is charming, down-to-earth and humorous. After your own team’s manager, Claudio is probably the second favourite boss with many neutrals up-and-down the land.

Experience counts

Claudio Ranieri began his managerial career in his homeland during the late 1980s, making his name at Cagliari whom he achieved back-to-back promotions with on a shoestring budget.

He has managed many of the top clubs in European football, though his success in terms of honours was limited mainly to cup triumphs.

Actually, his best win rate ratio came at AS Roma, winning 55.5% of matches during his reign there from September 2009 to February 2011. However, silverware eluded him at the Stadio Olimpico at a time where Inter Milan was the dominant club in Serie A and in the UEFA Champions League under the guidance of a certain Jose Mourinho.

Claudio Ranieri’s management career

Lametini	1986-1987
Puteolana	1987-1988
Cagliari	1988-1991
Napoli	1991-1993
Fiorentina	1993-1997
Valencia	1997-1999
Atletico Madrid	1999-2000
Chelsea	2000-2004
Valencia	2004-2005
Parma	2007
Juventus	2007-2009
AS Roma	2009-2011
Inter Milan	2011-2012
AS Monaco	2012-2014
Greece	2014
Leicester City	2015-PRESENT

Ranieri has experienced many and most scenarios as a club manager, from being fired despite doing excellent jobs to being undermined by the club’s owners. His dignity in guiding Chelsea to a runners-up spot and UEFA Champions League semi-final in 2004 when his job was being questioned every single week won him a lot of respect on his departure.

11 years may have been passed from leaving west London to arriving in the East Midlands but Ranieri’s Premier League experience has counted, especially when you think of the problems some of the younger managers have had this season. Tim Sherwood and Garry Monk are two examples of doing initial fine work but now are currently unemployed.

Trust and consistency

Ranieri has often carried the nickname ‘The Tinkerman.’ His team selections at Chelsea were at times baffling and inconsistent. Frank Lampard seemed to be the only definite selection on a weekly basis. In his final season at Stamford Bridge, the depth of the squad was fully used to the maximum.

The fear was he would do this at Leicester too, but in fact, their team selection has been so consistent with the fewest starting XI changes in the league in 2015/2016. The majority of us can probably guess his team now rather than have to play a game of chess to find out what it is.

Even when he was forced into changes, he has come up smiling. When Jamie Vardy was banned following his dismissal against West Ham United, Ranieri changed tactic by bringing Jeff Schlupp into the team to counteract the pace he would lose from Vardy against Swansea City. Leicester won the game 4-0 and Schlupp was one of the star players on the day.

His decision to change the full-backs early season also worked. Ritchie de Laet and Schlupp began the campaign but the 5-2 defeat at the hands of Arsenal exposed a brutal weakness. De Laet was shipped out on-loan to Middlesbrough in the January transfer window. From October, into the team came Danny Simpson and Christian Fuchs. Simpson had been discarded by QPR and Fuchs shown the door by FC Schalke 04. Their consistent performances have made them two of the club’s unsung heroes.

Even Claudio’s substitutions have often worked. Leonardo Ulloa, Andy King, Nathan Dyer and Demarai Gray have often been used from the bench this season. None of them have complained. They’ve done the job asked of them and been part of this team spirit ethic. Ulloa has scored most of his goals from the bench, whilst Dyer’s home debut goal against Aston Villa in September shouldn’t be overlooked.

He has the full trust of his players and the consistent team selection has been an integral part of this.

Can they do it again?

Not according to the man himself, but he is being phlegmatic already about the club’s future. On a continental scale, there have been surprise title winners in the past. However, FC Kaiserslautern (Germany, 1998), Deportivo La Coruna (Spain, 2000), and Montpellier (France, 2012) have been unable to achieve sustained success.

The summer will be crucial for Leicester. N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez will be high on the shopping lists of many managers and there will be other players linked with moves after their heroics in this title-winning stunner.

Leicester will also know the challenge ahead. Tottenham will be hungrier after this season’s near-miss, whilst Pep Guardiola is a born winner and will bring that aurora to the Manchester City post. Jurgen Klopp will have a summer to shape his Liverpool FC team and should Mourinho end up at Manchester United, they must be considered with his proven track record. Let’s not forget Arsenal too with the shrewd Arsene Wenger and the likes of West Ham United and Southampton have to be taken seriously too after this season’s efforts.

The chase is already on and this is exciting for the English game.

For now though, everyone (apart from Tottenham fans) can appreciate and enjoy Claudio Ranieri’s success. He is a title winner at last and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.