After Nigel Pearson was sacked last month, Leicester City have appointed former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri as manager. The new Foxes manager comes with a strong footballing CV, having coached various teams across Europe with some success.
Leicester City Appoint Claudio Ranieri as Manager
The last time Ranieri was in England as Chelsea manager, the Blues achieved their highest finish in nearly 50 years, coming second to Arsenal’s Invincibles in 2004. After he was replaced by Jose Mourinho, Ranieri went on to manage Valencia, the team with whom he had won the Copa Del Rey only a decade earlier, but the return was not a happy one, as Los Che suffered a slump in form and he was sacked.
After that, he took a two-year break from football, then returned to his homeland, Italy, to mange four different clubs in five years. Of these four clubs, namely Parma, Juventus, Roma and Inter Milan, he was at his best in Rome, having a win ratio of over 55% in two years.
Ranieri has not won a major trophy since the UEFA Super Cup in 2004, but his record with less glamorous teams is most impressive. The last non-international team he managed, Monaco, saw a great rise in fortunes under his leadership, being promoted from Ligue 2 to France’s top tier in 2013. Ranieri was won two other lower-league titles, Serie C1 with Cagliari in 1989 and Serie B with Fiorentina in 1994. His record with these smaller teams will have impressed Leicester, and should they not be able to stay up in the Premier League this season, his promotion record will make them confident that he can bring them back sooner rather than later.
