Bidding a Sad Farewell to Claudio Ranieri
By: Martha | May 31st, 2007
It hurts me to type this, but it’s looking more and more likely The Great Claudio Ranieri will soon be leaving Parma for the colder, rainier pastures of Manchester City. Though he’s not yet met with his currently employers to discussion the situation — that happens tomorrow — the Tinkerman is giving interviews in the British press that make it sound like he’s already taken the job, getting into the rivalry with Man U and saying things like “English football is a fascinating window that hypnotises you” and “The idea is to face Manchester United as soon as possible and be at the same level as them in the standings.”
As far as I can tell, the only thing that would keep Ranieri in Italy is if the pending purchase of Man City by Thaksin Shinawatra (some sort of Thai politician) doesn’t go through. It’s understood that Shinawatra plans to hire Ranieri once he takes over and, since everything seems to be in order with his bid and background, it’s unlikely anything will stand in his path. SIGH.
As I’ve said before, the job seems a good fit for Ranieri, and it’d be impossible to hold the move against him. But it’d be so sad to see him go, from both footballing and personal perspectives. He gave new life to Parma, and made the team one of the great stories of the second half of the season — and he did so in large part with his impossibly optimistic, intense personality, bringing a bit of genuine passion back to football management, a field that has largely been taking over by (necessarily) jaded men who are too media-savvy to be genuine in front of the press. At this point our only real hope in that department is Serse Cosmi, and he won’t have Bresci back in Serie A for at least another year.
So good luck, Saint Claudio. We (and by “we” I mean “I”) will miss the hell out of you.
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Sucks to see Claudio go, but he’s just confirming the current Italian problem to follow the money. Italy was the only country to field ALL home-based players in the World Cup, and now we have ex-Juventini playing in Spain (I know it IS Real Madrid, but to have the Italian Captain play in Spain is embarrassing), ToniGOL going to Germany , and Buffon probably playing abroad. Add to that problem the recent scudetto won by the Argentinian national team, the slow transformation of world champions AC Milan into AC Brazil, and the constant disrespect/apathy towards the Italian National Team by FIGC… Italia’s going to have a rough time during Euro 2008.
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