Former Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri was confirmed as the new Roma manager yesterday, coming out of retirement at the age of 73 to take charge of the stricken club until the end of the season.
The shock move came days after the Giallorossi sacked the Croatian Ivan Juric, with Ranieri becoming Roma’s third coach of the season.
Ranieri managed Roma on two previous occasions, from 2009-11 and in 2019, after growing up a fan of the club and beginning his playing career there.
For Juventus fans though, Ranieri is synonymous with Juventus’ return following the Calciopoli scandal.
A Glittering Career
A former AS Roma defender, Ranieri started his coaching career at Naples club SSC Campania Ponticelli 1975 before moving to Cagliari in 1988.
Ranieri coached Cagliari until 1991, guiding the club from the third-tier to Serie A. He returned thirty years later, taking over the club when they were languishing in the second tier. He oversaw their Serie B promotion play-off final against Bari in 22/23, before keeping them up last season.
His two spells at the Sardinian side bookended a glittering career which saw Ranieri manage Serie A sides such as Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Napoli, Sampdoria, Parma and his boyhood club Roma twice. He would manage abroad, coaching Spanish sides Atletico Madrid and Valencia as well as Monaco and Nantes in France.
In 2000, Ranieri managed Chelsea for four seasons. He improved Chelsea’s points total year-on-year, finishing runners-up in 2004 and reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Emerging From The Ashes
Ranieri would join Juventus, for the 2007/08 season. The previous summer Juventus had been found guilty in the Calciopoli scandal, decimating the club. Juve were relegated to Serie B with an 18-point penalty and stripped of two league titles earned under coach Fabio Capello.
Capello and the entire board of directors would leave, along with a host of star talent. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira joined Inter, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram departed to Barcelona while Emerson and Fabio Cannavaro signed for Real Madrid.
Former player Didier Deschamps returned as a coach to lead remaining legends Alessandro Del Piero, Gigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet and Mauro Camoranesi, on the journey back to the top table.
After Juve’s points deduction was halved to nine points on appeal, the Bianconeri came to terms with the reality of Serie B. For every team they played, this was their cup final, the chance to claim a famous scalp over the once mighty Bianconeri. Juventus drew ten matches that season, with teams across the country parking the bus in hopes of a famous draw. Only losing to Mantova and Brescia en route, Juventus won the title to return to the top flight immediately, with three games to spare.
Off the pitch, Juventus struggled to cope with the psychological toll of Calciopoli. Coming into conflict with Director of Football Alessio Secco over playing budgets, Deschamps handed in his resignation notice upon securing promotion. Deschamps’ assistant, Giancarlo Corradini, took charge of the final two games of the season, as Juve were humbled by Bari and Spezia respectively. It was evident that more work was needed for their return to Serie A, and Ranieri was appointed to oversee the rebuild.
The Rebuild
Ranieri took a two-year sabbatical from the game after a disappointing second spell at Valencia before taking charge at Parma in February 2007 after the sacking of Stefano Pioli with the club second-bottom in the 20-team table. By the last day of the season, Parma were secure in 12th place, with Ranieri departing to take the job at Juventus.
Ranieri was a well-liked figure in Calcio, a gentleman figure who garnered respect from everyone he met. In the press conference to announce his arrival, Ranieri stated "Thanks to Juve who chose me, this fills me with pride. It's a beautiful, difficult and electrifying choice. I don't like to promise and then not keep. It is not true that Juventus is downsizing: it is growing to return to winning as soon as possible. There is hard work to be done, there is a beautiful and ambitious project to recover positions. The fans are reassured: we will do everything to do well on the fields of Italy and Europe. The company said it wants to return to the top in 5 years, we will try to burn the stages,"
Ranieri built a squad on a shoestring budget, signing cheap players and free agents who Ranieri could trust to buy into the project and fellow his lead. Signings included Czech internationalist Zdeněk Grygera, Portuguese midfielder Tiago Mendes and Argentinian Sergio Almirón.
He recruited grafters who could support the stars strike partnership of Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet. Trezeguet had been won back on side by Ranieri, after the Frenchman spent most of the Serie B campaign battling with senior management. Trezeguet was notorious for showing his frustration after scoring goals, celebrating in a sullen manner out of protest.
After a chastening year in the second tier, Ranieri made loyal stars feel appreciated again and gave everyone a bit more confidence in Juve’s future. Ranieri outlined his philosophy at Juve; “to bring Juventus and its name back among the greats, where they belong, after all the chaos. To be here is more than just a new adventure. It's a summit of sorts. To be part of Juventus is to be part of history."
2007/2008
Without the distraction of European football, Juve were able to concentrate on Serie A, losing just twice in their opening 23 matches as Juventus asserted themselves as legitimate title contenders.
By December, Juventus were firmly wedged in third place, not moving from that position for the rest of the season as they returned to the Champions League. Captain Del Piero won the league’s Top Scorer award, racking up 21 goals, the only season of his career where he claimed the Golden Boot.
On 22nd of March 2008, Juve travelled to the San Siro to face champions elect Internazionale. Juventus emerged 2-1 victors with two of the faithful servants who stuck with the Club in Serie B getting on the scoresheet. First up, on 49 minutes, Giorgio Chiellini left a Cristian Molinaro through ball for an unmarked Mauro Camoranesi. Camoranesi fired past Inter keeper Julio Cesar, despite being clearly offside when the pass was made.
Fifteen minutes later, Del Piero audaciously flicked the ball over for David Trezeguet. Inter defender Nicolás Burdisso attempted to head the ball clear, instead serving it up on a plate for Trezeguet, whose powerful left-foot effort made it 2-0 Juve. A late consolation from Maniche was not enough for high-flying Inter, as they seceded the bragging rights in the Derby D’Italia to their rivals they previously thought were dead and buried.
2008/2009
With the riches afforded by a return to the Champions League, Ranieri strengthened the side in hopes of a sustained title challenge. The marquee signing saw Brazilian striker Amauri sign from Palermo for €22.3 million alongside some peculiar signings like Aston Villa’s Olof Mellberg and former Arsenal keeper Alex Manninger.
The transfer window was dominated by “the one that got away”. Years later, Juventus CEO Jean Claude Blanc admitted the club had agreed deals with Sevilla for Christian Poulsen and Liverpool for 2024’s man of the moment Xabi Alonso. With room for only one player in midfielder, the decision was left to Ranieri. Ranieri inexplicably chose Poulsen, claiming that Alonso was too slow to fit in to their midfield with the style Ranieri wanted to play.
Juventus’ league campaign was very streaky. A five-game sequence of games without a win in October was followed up with five successive wins in November 2008. They went even further in late January 2009 with a seven-game unbeaten streak before matching the feat in March 2009 with another run of seven games without losing that included 4-1 demolitions of Bologna and Roma.
In Europe, Juventus strolled through their Champions League group of BATE Borisov, Zenit St Petersburg and Real Madrid, with Juve beating Real twice.
In Turin, Alessandro Del Piero gave Juventus the early lead, scoring in the fifth minute before Amauri made it 2-0 just after half-time with a headed effort. A consolation from Ruud van Nistelrooy was not enough as Juve triumphed 2-1.
The return at the Bernabeu was even better, with Del Piero, just days shy of his thirty-fourth birthday, putting on a performance for the ages. His first was a sumptuous free kick. His second, an age-defying speedy run before firing a left-footed rocket on the edge of the box. In stoppage time, Ranieri decided to sub Del Piero off. The Bernabeu rose to its feet for a standing ovation, with Del Piero joining a very exclusive club of players like Andres Iniesta, Ronaldinho and Diego Maradona to receive this honour. I’m
Once the Old Lady reached the knockout stages though, the magic fizzled out as they were knocked out in the last 16 by English side Chelsea. Despite being reduced to ten men in the second leg, Juventus battled hard to drew the game 2–2, but their 1–0 loss at Stamford Bridge in the first leg saw them eliminated.
On the domestic front, Juventus flirted with challenging Inter’s domination throughout the season until six draws and a loss through April and May ended their title tilt.
After repeatedly playing down Juventus' title chances, his players’ motivations dipped as did results. A 2–1 loss at home to Lazio in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia ended any silverware hopes for the season and Ranieri was relieved of his position with two games of the season to go.
Juve legend Ciro Ferrera, director of Juve’s youth operations at the time, would be caretaker for wins over Siena and Lazio. Juve finished second in the league table ahead of AC Milan on head-to-head record after Milan lost 3–2 away at Roma on the final day.
Bored of the Board
The circumstances surrounding Ranieri’s exit are still shrouded in uncertainty. In a statement at the time, CEO Blanc said; "We have taken this decision as a last resort when the team is not playing well. We are convinced that this will deliver a clear message to the players: These final two games are fundamental and need to be played to the very best of their ability. Everybody has got to take responsibility."
In reality, the dismissal of Ranieri solved none of the issues affecting Juve at the time. Over the next two seasons, a combination of stints by Ferrara, Alberto Zaccheroni and Luigi Delneri all saw Juventus fail to reach the top three places they had reached under Ranieri. It was only the arrival of new president Andrea Agnelli, a clear out of the board of directors and the appointment of Antonio Conte as coach that saw Juventus finally break the malaise.
Ranieri had a different view of why he was removed, citing disputes with the board over transfer policy, similar to his predecessor Deschamps’ exit. In a 2015 interview with the Corriere dello Sport newspaper, Ranieri discussed his two-year spell in Turin from 2007 to 2009 and why he left stating;
“With Juve it ended when I decided that it should end. I also have to point out that my spells at clubs have always been finished by me. We no longer agreed on transfer strategy. I was told that we’d agree on and buy players between the three of us: me, director of sport Alessio Secco and general manager Jean-Claude Blanc. The moment came when a choice was made that I didn’t agree with, but they told me that the two of them had decided. So I said fine, then I’ll go instead. They fired me two games before the end of the season, but the matter was done and dusted by that point.
“Who was the player? I can say it now, it was Cannavaro. He was a great player, but it didn’t seem right that six stars went down to Serie B and took Juventus back into the top flight. Meanwhile he went off to Real Madrid and won a Scudetto only to just come back again? Cannavaro did well, it was just an issue of what was fair to the team. It was my opinion, not that of the locker room.”
Ranieri Returns Home
Ranieri would not be without work for long after leaving Juve, joining Roma in September 2009, replacing Luciano Spalletti. For Ranieri, it was the realisation of a life’s dream. With a team filled with talent such as De Rossi, Pizarro, Vucinic and the legendary Francesco Totti, Ranieri guided Roma to a twenty-four game undefeated streak as he challenged Jose Mourinho’s Inter for the Scudetto.
Ranieri and Mourinho’s rivalry had been born during Ranieri’s time at Juventus, with Mourinho’s criticising Ranieri for being old fashioned and never winning an important title as a manager in his career.
But as Roma fought tooth and nail at the top of the table, Juventus languished. A loss away to Chievo in January saw Juventus drop to fifth in the table, with Ranieri’s Roma next on the schedule. Juventus would get the better of Roma through the first half, but it remained goalless at the break. Juventus took the lead at the start of the second half after a dreadful clearance from defender Juan ends up at the feet of Del Piero, who blasted his shot into the bottom right corner to make it 1-0. Soon, Roma would equalise through a Francesco Totti penalty.
Then on the 81st minute, a lapse in judgement from Buffon saw him receive a red card as Roma smelt blood. In stoppage time, John Arne Riise headed home to give Roma the 2-1 win as Juve swallowed the bitterest of pills, watching Ranieri take Inter to the wire as Juventus faltered. A crushing loss to Sampdoria in the run-in would cost Roma the Scudetto, with Inter winning the treble that season. Juventus finished seventh that year.
Ranieri returned to England in 2016 masterminding Leicester City to the greatest triumph in English football history.
The Foxes lifted the English Premier League title despite narrowly avoiding relegation the season prior and being ranked as 5000/1 outsiders at the start of the season. He took them into the last 16 of the Champions League in their first ever adventure in Europe's premier competition, before being controversially sacked.
Ranieri had bowed out of the club game this summer after guiding the club he began his managerial career with, Cagliari, to safety from relegation.
The last time we saw Ranieri, he was holding back the tears as fans chanted his name before kick-off in the final game of the season, giving him a standing ovation. A banner was unfurled displaying the message 'Eternal gratitude to a great man'.
Now, the man who’s written more fairytales than Hans Christian Andersen is back in Serie A, with the club he grew up supporting for a third spell, Roma.
Ranieri’s Juventus spell is just one example of Claudio’s ability to rescue clubs in times of need and get them back when they belong.
Welcome back, Claudio. Football has been a duller place without you. Here’s hoping when Juve travel to the Stadio Olimpico in April to face the Giallorossi, you aren’t sprinkling more fairy dust.