Italy

Ranieri Still Needs to Win Juventus Support

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Stephen Maio

How about these times for Claudio Ranieri? He can safely say without conviction that he takes each day one at a time. One day he is appreciated, his club is in form and he is peaceful, the next day he unappreciated, his club is slipping and he is somewhat fearful.

When Juventus went winless for five consecutive Serie A games from late September to late October, including losses to Palermo and Napoli, everyone and their father were screaming for Ranieri’s head. When the club stylishly defeated Real Madrid consecutively, claiming top spot in the UEFA Champions League group stage, while simultaneously marching up the Serie A standings in November, culminating with a 4-2 smashing of AC Milan in December, all was serene.

The Tinkerman has never truly been adored by the fans, many of whom believed he was underqualified upon his appointment.

For those who aren’t familiar with Ranieri’s background, it is worthy to note that he did have some credentials prior to becoming the Bianconeri’s coach.

Ranieri began his career at Campania Puteolana in 1987 and spent a season in charge there before moving to Cagliari and making a name for himself by taking the Sicilian outfit to Serie A from Serie C1. Those heroics earned him the job as head coach of Napoli where he spent the 1991/92 and 92/93 seasons coaching in Serie A. He moved to Fiorentina in 1993 and spent the next four seasons at Artemio Franchi, taking them up from Serie B and winning the Coppa Italia and Super Coppa Italiana in 1996.

Ranieri then opted for a change in scenery and in the process earned himself his first big break. He moved to La Liga to coach Valencia CF, guided the club to Europe in two seasons and left for Atletico Madrid as a popular coach among their fans. His sole season at Atletico was destroyed by the club going into administration.

But Ranieri then got another break in the form of an offer from Chelsea. The Italian headed to England from Spain, to the pre-Abramovich London side, spending four seasons there from 2000-2004. He was criticized often for the over-rotation of his squad and earned the nickname ‘Tinkerman’ from the English press. When Roman Abramovich took over the club, Ranieri was given a large transfer budget and spent £130M during the summer which would bring positive results the following season. In the end, his inconsistent results with the club and his lack of silverware gave Abramovich the reasons he was looking for to relieve him of his duties in 2004.

Ranieri though was not without work for long as he returned to a Valencia side waiting for him with open arms for the 2004/05 season. The magic though was no longer there as he was sacked in February after the club were knocked out of the UEFA Cup.

After taking a few seasons away from the game he would surprise the football world by returning to Italy to coach Parma in February of 2007, attempting to save the club from relegation to Serie B. Ranieri was able to pull out all the stops and a miracle for the club, thanks in large part to the goals of Giuseppe Rossi. After he turned the trick he was linked with numerous offers from clubs including Fulham, Manchester City and Palermo, before he finally accepted the Juventus job in June of 2007.

Even if his trophy cabinet is slender, he has a decent portfolio of Serie A experience with second tier sides like Napoli, Fiorentina, Parma, and European experience with Valencia and Chelsea, winning some silverware along the way.

Now, the issue is that this experience, numerous though it is, is the reason why he has never adorned himself to the Juventus faithful. They have always believed he is just what his resume indicates; a second tier manager. It has been an interesting love-hate relationship between Ranieri and the Juve support.

At this point in time, there are many who would say they are at odds with Ranieri. A large section of support are neither convinced nor discouraged by him. Fans will claim to enjoy him as long as the results are coming, but as soon as Juventus hit another wall, out come the knives again. In the space of a recent three day span where Juventus dropped consecutive Serie A games to Udinese and Cagliari, names like Rafael Benitez and Antonio Conte surfaced quickly as possible emergency replacements for Ranieri, expected to arrive within the week! Again, as earlier in the season, poor Alessio Secco had to get up out of his office, deny any rumours and confirm job safety and so and so.

Clearly the biggest issue many have with Ranieri lie mostly with his squad choices. It is clear as day that Sebastian Giovinco deserves more minutes, and Juventus need to give him more minutes, but the Tinkerman is reluctant to play the youngster. For someone with the track record of helping along young players such as Gianfranco Zola and John Terry you would think the transition for Giovinco would be coming along quicker. It seems as though the same situation is occurring as was in evidence last year with Raffaele Palladino, where Ranieri could only find room for him isolated on the left flank. Is Ranieri incapable of molding youth? Palladino, Antonio Nocerino and Davide Lanzafame have been sent away but Paolo De Ceglie and Claudio Marchisio are seeing considerable time.

Ranieri has also been too dependant on Pavel Nedved. He needs to push the club to acquire a replacement for the left winger so that Giovinco can be played in more attacking role. In contrast to his name, the Tinkerman clearly desires to stick with the men that are getting it done as he hasn’t deviated much from a preferred starting eleven this season as he has in the past.

Does Claudio Ranieri have the pedigree? He has big club experience, is it enough?
How about his future at the club? How long should he have to win a trophy and prove he can get the results a club like Juventus desire?

Claudio Ranieri’s problems are that he doesn’t have the confidence of the Juventus faithful, and until he wins something he won’t earn it. Even though he was saved by Christian Poulsen’s late winner at Catania recently, with the Bianconeri still seven points adrift of Inter it may be time for the Tinkerman and Co. to look towards Europe, starting with the Scolari-less Chelsea. What irony if victory over Abramovich’s Chelsea saved his job.