Ranieri returns to Rome. He and the company took a very long journey before arriving at what seemed from the first hours to be one of the most logical solutions. Roman and Romanist, one of the fathers of the country, stubborn at heart. They called him “The Tinkerman” in England, before he won that extraordinary championship with Leicester. The Tinkerman, the fixer. Because Claudio Ranieri seemed to be perfect in situations where there was something to fix, something broken that needed to be made to work. He made adjustments, put everyone back in line, everything in its place and then the club continued on its path, perhaps winning. On more than one occasion the clubs he played for won a trophy in the season (or seasons) following his “intervention”.
In Rome they know Ranieri well. Not only because he is Roman but because he has already experienced Rome. He grew up in football in Roma, he made his debut in Serie A with Roma. He always supported Roma and even ended up coaching them, not once but twice. This will be the third. The first was in 2009, when he took over from a resigning Spalletti and when he challenged Inter for the Scudetto until the last day, the second 10 years later, in 2019, when he was called to replace Di Francesco (whom he would also replace the following year, at Sampdoria), until the end of the season.
Now he’s back, once again to put a season back on its feet which – sportingly speaking – is proving to be dramatic. He brings his Roman character but also his extraordinary experience, his charisma, his passion. He toured Italy far and wide, he toured Europe far and wide: Spain, England, France. He left and came back. He coached national teams (Greece). He won a championship that will remain in the history of world football, he lived his last seasons in Cagliari which will also remain in history. He won the D, he won the C (once in Cagliari through the playoffs), he won the B, he won the Italian Cup and the Super Cup, he won the Spanish Cup, a UEFA Super Cup. He would have liked to stop: but in his heart he knew very well that if they called him back from his two hometowns (Rome and Cagliari) he couldn’t say no.
Ranieri trained everyone and everything. In all conditions. And this situation in Rome cannot make him afraid of others.
The choice could only fall on him: on him or on Allegri (at least in our opinion). Except that you should have proposed a path with a longer time horizon to Allegri.
To Ranieri, also for age reasons, maybe not. Or yes, but with different tasks. But to try to get a season like this back on track, you need someone who takes on everything, who has big shoulders to be able to allow himself to carry this weight on his shoulders.
It certainly took longer than expected to reach this conclusion. Already from the first creaks of Juric’s bench, when it was clear that he had been rejected (as a graft) by the Giallorossi world, Ranieri’s name was circulating. But it just circulated: there had been no direct contact.
In the last few hours the acceleration. We won’t know whether because someone didn’t get involved also for bureaucratic reasons (like Montella perhaps) or because someone said no or because someone – among the many who proposed – didn’t like it or didn’t convince.
He is certainly the only one who will no longer talk about De Rossi and what happened in the past. Because Ranieri, like De Rossi, is also a son of Rome.
But Roma’s problems remain. The big question mark remains as to how it was possible to declare a project completely failed on November 10th. Everything that was there two months ago is no longer there. There is no longer De Rossi, there is no longer Lina Souloukou, there is no longer the ambition to improve on the previous year by winning some trophies and qualifying for the Champions League.
And this was not Juric’s problem. Juric was somehow a victim.
Roma have found the coach: in this situation one of the best possible choices, if not the best. But everything else is still missing. We lack a football manager integrated into our football who can support the coach and direct the club, we lack a CEO who can act as a buffer between the owners and the club. We do not ask that the Friedkins speak: there is no need to do interviews. But it is necessary that someone, by name and on their behalf, can speak to understand in which direction Roma is now moving. Because by dint of press releases, the questions remain unresolved and the doubts increase instead of dissipating, contributing to making the climate increasingly incandescent.
This is the disconnect that we notice, that we perceive, that we experience.
Ranieri can bridge part of this gap. The rest must be done by competent, prepared and serious management. Unless Friedkin really wants to get involved.