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The head coach of the London club is closer than ever to leaving his position. This time, the reason was not the performance of his team, but the statements he allowed himself to use in the Spanish press.
Before the Champions League semi-final between London's Chelsea and, on the eve, the Spanish newspaper "Marca" published an interview with the chief strategist of the London club, in which he spoke rather disrespectfully about Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
"From the very first day in the club, Abramovich wanted to fire me. For some reason, he wanted to see Sven-Goran Eriksson in the coach position, with whom he had even met last summer. But Eriksson said he couldn't leave the national team, and the next day Abramovich met me and said something like: 'OK, you did pretty well last year. Keep it up in the same mood,’” complained the 52-year-old Italian to the Spanish journalists.
According to Ranieri, the dislike of Chelsea's owner towards him is so great that he will not keep his position even if he wins the Champions League: "I have a feeling that he has already hung his sword over my head, and my resignation has already been decided."
But the sharpest words for "Mister Chelsea" Ranieri are said at the end of the interview: "Abramovich absolutely understands nothing about football. Complete zero. If he understood anything in it, he would probably have been able to appreciate what the team achieved under my leadership and before his arrival. We didn't even have the resources available today, no squad this strong,” says Ranieri, whose team earned the right to compete in the Champions League by finishing fourth in last year's English championship.
Another interview fragment: “Abramovich, weakly understanding football, believes that if he allocates funds to stars, they will immediately deliver results. He doesn't even understand how much work it cost me to make all these different players, acquired this summer, look like a single team. Abramovich thought that if we buy one, then another - we will immediately become invincible. It doesn't work that way.”
If everything printed in "Marca" newspaper is true, and not the machinations of Spanish journalists who want to weaken Chelsea - the main competitor in the fight for the most prestigious club football award - it is believed that Ranieri will not remain in the position of the team's head coach for long.
By the way, the search for Ranieri's successor is already underway. On Tuesday, the English newspaper "Mirror" published information that Abramovich's representatives have started negotiations with head coach David O'Leary. Abramovich really liked how "Villa" looked in the two games of this season against Chelsea. Another quite likely contender for Ranieri's position is named as head coach Jose Maurinho, who has so far shown no great desire to move to England.
