The Gentleman of Calcio: Claudio Ranieri Retires

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[00:00:57] We believe that every sport should be epic.

[00:01:00] Every home run, every hit, every inning, every play.

[00:01:04] From the moments that are legendary to the ones that fly under the radar.

[00:01:08] Whether it's a walk-off grand slam or a base hit to center field.

[00:01:12] Whatever the sport, whatever the moment. It's never ordinary.

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[00:01:31] I really don't know, but I think I might still expect them to go down.

[00:01:35] I do think we've slightly, in the conversation of saying who's already gone down,

[00:01:38] we slightly buried the lead as well about who stayed up, which is Carioli and Claudio Ranieri.

[00:01:43] And Veronilla.

[00:01:44] That's because they wanted you to have the options of speaking about this.

[00:01:47] I'm just forcing my way to talk about it. I wrote about it in my Guardian column,

[00:01:51] people haven't already read it. But I just think it's such an extraordinary story.

[00:01:57] Obviously Ranieri has done so much in his career. He's been all over Europe. He's been at

[00:02:01] every big club in Italy and forever, I think for most of your non- if you're not a supporter

[00:02:10] of a team that he managed, probably most people will forever just think of Leicester

[00:02:13] because that was the biggest thing he did. Winning a league title with Leicester was

[00:02:17] extraordinary. But it's just really romantically lovely to see him back at Carioli where it wasn't

[00:02:24] his first job in management, but it was basically the club where he launched himself because he

[00:02:28] took Carioli from having previously only coached in the lower leagues. He took them from Serie

[00:02:33] G1 up to Serie A from 1988 onwards and did that in two seasons for consecutive promotions.

[00:02:43] Having taken them over after they'd almost been relegated the year before,

[00:02:46] kept them in Serie A, then went off and became this incredible manager who you've got to manage

[00:02:52] all over Europe. Comes back middle of last season when they're 12, gets them promoted

[00:02:58] in the most incredible fashion with comeback in the playoffs semi-final and in the final.

[00:03:03] And then this season after I think it was after 24 games they'd lost- I might be

[00:03:08] getting my numbers wrong. It was something like 24 games. They lost 14 of them.

[00:03:12] I think it was 24 games. They lost 14 of them. They're headed for relegation again.

[00:03:16] Comes into the dressing room and says,

[00:03:19] should I resign guys? Do you still want to be with me? Am I the problem? And the players

[00:03:25] say no, we were all together on this. We're working hard. We can turn it around. And lo

[00:03:29] and behold they have in the next 13 games only three losses. They get this winning

[00:03:34] in Sasuola at the weekend that crowns it. Incredibly, if you want to go back to that

[00:03:39] first in 1991, they secured their top flight safety that time around by beating Bologna,

[00:03:47] which is just up the road from the Mappe Stadium on exactly the same day, 19th of May. So it's

[00:03:52] exactly 1991 to 2020, what exactly? 33 years? Can I do maths in my head? I should know that.

[00:04:00] And exactly the same places. He's absolutely- and I think to understand this as well,

[00:04:06] you have to slightly understand Sardinia, which is, it's Italy, but it's not Italy.

[00:04:11] If you know what I mean, I know you know, but for anyone listening who hasn't been there,

[00:04:16] it is its own island. It sometimes feels like its own nation even though it's attached

[00:04:21] to Italy. And I think that there really is this sense of him just having become,

[00:04:27] even though he is a Roman and supports Roma and has his whole history there,

[00:04:31] he's become a national hero, national in quotes to the people of Sardinia. He's become a true

[00:04:39] hero of their island and the reception the team got coming back was magnificent.

[00:04:44] Can I make a case for Verona please and Marco Barone who's done a better job than

[00:04:49] Claudio Ranieri? He has. Patrick is so competitive. Today is one upmanship day,

[00:04:58] I'm telling you. Sorry, Nicky. But I mean, Marco Barone, I mean, but for Simone Inzaghi,

[00:05:02] he's coach of the year. This is a Verona side that completely riddled with financial

[00:05:08] difficulties. The club was basically seized from what's emerged basically and they were

[00:05:13] told to sell all their best players in January. Cyril Ngonghe went to Napoli,

[00:05:18] Isak Hien went to Atalanta, Terracchiano went to Milan. You know, these are the big

[00:05:22] clubs picking off these players. All right, Fiorentina signed, Faraoni, Doig went to

[00:05:27] Sassuolo. That's turned out to be a bad move for him. He's dropped out of the division.

[00:05:31] And then, you know, they just cobbled together a load of signings again from sort of Northern

[00:05:35] Europe in January. They recruit very well from the Netherlands in particular,

[00:05:40] Sean Soliano who's the returning sporting director. And they're safe with more than

[00:05:45] with a game to spare. And I like what Nicky was saying there about the symmetry because

[00:05:49] it was not quite the same but in 2011, Verona who were under Andrea Mandolini at the time,

[00:05:57] they actually won a two-legged playoff against Salednitana to get out of the third

[00:06:02] tier to get back in Serie B after four years away. This time they won in Saledno to avoid

[00:06:07] going back down to the second tier. And I just think it's been the most amazing job.

[00:06:11] He's not moaned. He's conducted himself with dignity. They actually play quite nice

[00:06:16] football and they keep unearthing these stars. The latest one is Tijani Nozlin who ironically

[00:06:21] had his worst game yesterday. He should have scored a hat-trick and didn't end up scoring at

[00:06:24] all but they've borrowed well. Follwornso was outstanding. I fully expect him to start for

[00:06:29] Napoli. He should be starting. If he were at Napoli now, I think he'd be walking to that

[00:06:34] midfield at the moment. I'm just hugely impressed with them and I like players

[00:06:39] like Darko Lazarevic to actually stay around when all the other senior players bolted, you

[00:06:42] know. So I think Ranieri's achievement is excellent but this Caliulis side didn't see

[00:06:49] half of their first team sold off in January whereas Verona did and despite that they've

[00:06:53] actually taken more points in the second half of the season than they did in the first half

[00:06:56] of the season. And I just think Baroni should be coaching somewhere better than Verona with

[00:07:01] the greatest of respect to them. Well, I think he should take Genoa and Gilardino should

[00:07:06] take Verona. This was just my idea but I agree with you. And he left Lecce at the time

[00:07:11] because it was a miracle that he kept them up last season to be honest with you. And he's

[00:07:16] done such a terrific job because there's no way, no way that I thought Verona, I mean to the

[00:07:20] extent of the signs, what the protests of the fans at the time who held up signs that said

[00:07:27] this is a car boot sale, this is just so awful what's happening to us and then look

[00:07:31] where they are now. So congratulations to them. Support for Serie A Chronicles is brought to

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