With the spirit of the World Cup hanging in the air everywhere,
We feel like it’s only befitting for us to join the festivity and celebrate the occasion with an entry regarding the well-loved sport.
Now, you would find articles about some of the best teams and players all over the internet, or you might not even need to read any as they’re already etched in your mind and heart, so we’re going to talk about another key factor to any successful team instead: the manager.
There’s much to tell you, here’s the first one,
Born in San Saba, Italy, on the 20th of October 1951, Claudio Ranieri, a quiet and reserved Italian man in nature, began his career in the world of football as a player before eventually becoming a manager; a lifelong supporter of A.S. Roma.
Did you know that ..
During his time as the manager of Leicester City in May 2016, he attracted the world’s attention when he stated that instead of watching the Chelsea–Tottenham Hotspur match, he would be coming home to Rome to have lunch with his 96-year-old mother; the match ended in a 2–2 draw, resulting to him being awarded his first ever Premier League title.
Here’s something else,
Ranieri began his managerial career during the late 1980s in the lower leagues in Italy and made his name at Cagliari, a team he successfully brought from Serie C1 up to Serie A in successive seasons. He later went on to manage Napoli, leading the team to qualify for the UEFA Cup, after which he joined Fiorentina and again, managed to lead them to Serie A promotion, aside from winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana in 1996, before moving to Spain in 1997 to manage Valencia and Atlético Madrid afterward.
And here’s the best news,
The man won Valencia a Copa del Rey and an UEFA Intertoto Cup, and helped them qualify for the UEFA Champions League. In 2000, Ranieri moved to England to become Chelsea’s head coach.
His four seasons there saw Chelsea finishing runners-up in 2004 and reaching the UEFA Champions League semi-final the same season.
But sadly,
He was sacked by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich that May, but a number of players he signed and brought through during his time has no doubt formed a core that went on to achieve domestic and international success in the following seasons. It was such a great legacy.
You should remember this too,
After an unsuccessful second term with Valencia, he returned to Italy in 2007, where he successfully managed Parma, Juventus, Roma and Inter Milan. In 2012, he was hired to manage French team Monaco, who earned promotion as champions in his first season, and finished as Ligue 1 runner-up in his second season.
This was followed by a number of international management with the Greece national team, but he was sacked less than four months later due to a 1–0 defeat against the Faroe Islands in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. Ranieri returned to England in the summer of 2015 to manage Leicester City, leading them to win the 2015–16 Premier League, after the club had narrowly avoided relegation the season prior, naming him the 2016 Premier League Manager of the Season, and LMA Manager of the Year.
He was also awarded the Grand Officer of the Italian Order of Merit and the Enzo Bearzot Award as Best Italian manager of the year, as well as the 2016 Best FIFA Men’s Coach Award. After some bad results with the club, however, Ranieri was let go in February 2017. He joined Nantes as the manager in June 2017.
Keep in mind,
Known for their fitness and work-rate, Ranieri’s teams have also been known for their efficient and highly organized playing style; praised for their defensive solidity, effective use of heavy pressing to win back possession, and ability to score from quick counter-attacks. In addition to his tactical skills, the football world has also acknowledged Ranieri as a stand-out manager for his leadership, good humor, and his ability to both motivate and alleviate pressure from his players, growing a healthy winning mentality and a good team spirit; his somewhat unorthodox methods and quips have made him a popular figure with the media.
Throughout his career, Ranieri has earned the nickname “The Tinkerman” from the British media as a criticism for his tendency of over-rotating squad and modifying tactics and formations excessively throughout a season. He has also been accused of using “old-fashioned” and overly defensive tactical systems by other managers in the past, and received harsh words for his failure to win a major league title, until he captured the Premier League title with Leicester in 2016.
With so many ups and downs along his career, Ranieri owns and learns from his mistakes and never backed down from the one thing he loves the most. His passion for the sport, as well as all the others’, is what makes football the way it is today.
We wish you an exciting world cup season, just be prepared to have long nights if you’re to spend it in Bali since it will most likely broadcast very late in this part of the world.
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