No more tinkering for Ranieri

Abramovich paid off Chelsea’s debts and then invested $202 million in new players, declaring he wanted to make the side the best team in Europe. Ranieri, who earned a reputation as a team builder in Italy and Spain, insisted such ambitions would take time.

He exceeded his own expectations by taking Chelsea to the semi-finals of the Champions League and to second place in the premier league — the club’s best finish for 49 years — but still could not win the confidence of the Chelsea hierarchy.

Every news conference brought a new wave of questions about who would take over and how he coped with the stress. “It is normal,” he would inevitably answer, shrugging.

He said he was schooled in Italian soccer where managers might change several Times a season and where pressure was constant.

“I will continue to work my way” he told the reporters he affectionately labelled sharks as the new Russian broom swept through Stamford Bridge. Ranieri’s way involved constant team rotation as he tried out combinations of his expensive, talented and multilingual new squad and forced players to rest. His methods earned him the title “Tinkerman” an epithet he embraced with enthusiasm.

Often his methods worked but he became unstuck against Monaco in the Champions League semi-final when hasty attacking substitutions unsettled the team in the first leg and they lost 3-1 against 10 men, before being beaten 5-3 on aggregate.

Despite being forced to compete for places in the squad and to adapt to different positions on the pitch, most players remained loyal. Ranieri admired the English spirit and work ethic in football and wanted to combine it with the best of the other styles of play he had worked with — Italian technical ability and Spanish flair.

Though supremely articulate and witty in Italian, hisEnglish never reached Arsene Wenger or Gerard Houllier’s fluency but he insisted the lingua franca on the training pitch was English. Ranieri required total commitment from his players. When Joe Cole joined from West Ham he commented that he never worked so hard. Demonstrative on the training pitch, arms flailing he would urge and chivvy. Pitchside his favourite pose was arms crossed, face impassive. Magnanimous in defeat, it was never his style to slam the referee, blame bad decisions or criticise his opponents. With impeccable manners and unfailing bonhomie, Ranieri charmed England’s football establishment.

He never swelled the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet, however.

With his powerful Russian boss impatient for honours, team-building time simply ran out for Ranieri.

(Reuters)