RANIERI AT:
VALENCIA
After a bright start, in which the Mestalla outfit picked up 14 out of a possible 18 points and beat Porto to lift the
UEFA Super Cup, Valencia went into a slump starting in October. They won only once in 7 games and were knocked out of the Champions League. After a brief revival, Valencia went another 6 games without a win beginning mid-January. Apart from the unpopularity of his four Italian signings Ranieri was criticised for not playing Argentine playmaker
Pablo Aimar and for persistent changes to formations and tactics, something resembling his Chelsea days. He was sacked on 25 February 2005 after Valencia were knocked out of the
UEFA Cup by
Steaua Bucureşti. Valencia were sixth in
La Liga at the time of Ranieri's sacking. Ranieri had received £3 million from Valencia for the premature termination of his contract.
PARMA
His first season as manager of Juventus was fairly successful, as he guided the team to a 3rd-place finish just one season after they had been competing in the
Serie B, qualifying for the
UEFA Champions League, and finishing the season as the joint top-scoring team in the league. After Juventus struggled with injuries, and failed to register a win in seven matches during a two-month period,which left the team in third place after a 2–2 home draw with
Atalanta, he was said to have been under real pressure to maintain his job as head coach with many supporters of the club publicly criticising the team and in particular Ranieri. On 18 May 2009, the board sacked Ranieri after Inter were confirmed Champions. He was replaced by youth system chief
Ciro Ferrara. Ranieri had also led Juventus to the
Coppa Italia semi-finals that season, where they were eliminated by
Lazio, who went on to win the title. Juventus finished the league season in second place, one position better than the previous season.
ROMA
Under his guidance, Roma dramatically improved their performances and thrust themselves into the championship battle, reducing the gap between themselves and leaders Inter to only one point after Ranieri's team defeated Mourinho's
Nerazzurri in Week 31. Roma then went on to win two more games consecutively and overtook Inter by Week 33, thanks to a 2–1 home win against
Atalanta and Inter's 2–2 draw against
Fiorentina. This left the
Giallorossi on the top of the table with five games remaining. Roma then extended its unbeaten run to 23 games, and also maintained first place in the league table by winning a heated derby against
crosstown rivals Lazio, extending the club's unbeaten run to 24 matches. Ranieri was hailed by the press for substituting local heroes
Francesco Totti and
Daniele De Rossi during half-time, while Roma was losing 1–0; the
Giallorossi then won the game 2–1 thanks to two second-half goals from
Mirko Vučinić. However Roma would surrender their lead in
Serie A and also lose
the Coppa Italia final, in both cases to
treble-winning Inter. Following Roma's 1–0 defeat in the Coppa Italia final, Inter boss Mourinho publicly mocked Ranieri, as he had reportedly showed his team the film
Gladiator before the match, in order to motivate his players.
The
following season, Ranieri suffered yet another defeat to Inter in the
2010 Supercoppa Italiana. The season started off poorly for Roma and saw Ranieri clash with team captain Totti, who was critical of being left out of the team and of his coach's defensive tactics and constant changes to the starting line-up. Although the club's form later improved, Ranieri resigned as manager on 20 February 2011, after a poor run of results. His final game in charge was a 4–3 defeat to
Genoa, in which Roma surrendered a 3–0 lead.
INTER
On 22 September 2011, Ranieri was named as the new manager of
Inter Milan.
A run of seven consecutive Serie A wins in December 2011 and January 2012, including a 1–0 victory over
cross-city rivals A.C. Milan, suddenly had them talking of challenging for the title.
Thereafter, Inter Milan suffered a poor run of results (which also saw the departure of
Thiago Motta to
Paris Saint-Germain F.C.) and their UEFA Champions League hopes were hanging by a thread after being beaten by
Olympique de Marseille 1–0 in the round of 16 first leg match.
On 26 March 2012, following a 0–2 defeat against
Juventus and after a run of just two wins in their last 13 games and eventual elimination by Marseille in the Champions League, Ranieri was dismissed.
LEICESTER
On 13 July 2015,
Leicester City announced Ranieri as the club's new manager on a three-year contract. Leicester City clinched the Barclays Premier League title the following day, when second place team
Tottenham Hotspur could only manage a 2–2 draw against Ranieri's former club Chelsea, despite leading 2–0 at half time. This was the first time the club had won the title in their 132-year history. The team's success was described as a "fairytale" and the "most unlikely triumph in the history of team sport"
The start to Ranieri's second Premier League season with Leicester was less successful: by late November, the team had lost six of their opening 12 Premier League matches, conceded 20 goals while only scoring 14, and were in 14th place in table, only two points above the relegation zone; furthermore, Leicester had only won three matches in total, and had only managed to obtain one point away from home.
Anyone see a trend?
