Horncastle: Ranieri is proof that nice guys don’t always finish last
Coaching excellence has become one of the finest exports of the Made in Italy brand. Next season, Chelsea will be managed by Antonio Conte and by surely now we’vereached the stage where the Blues have to start considering rebranding themselves the Azzurri. Their fifth Italian coach, Chelsea’s alumni include Gianluca Vialli who won the FA Cup, Ranieri, a runner up to Arsenal’s Invincibles, Ancelotti who did the double and di Matteo who, most improbably of all, lifted the Champions League.
Naturally, it’s cause of great pride back home. In Italy, as is the case almost everywhere else, the Premier League is viewed as everything that football should be. It is heavily idealised and romanticised not only on account of England’s status as the birthplace of the game, but because in some respects they see what they have lost and what they have-not: full modern stadia, families in the stands, fair-play, sportsmanship, games that are rich in emotion, end-to-end and never-say-die. Pure entertainment.
Panglossian, isn’t it. The Premier League’s shortcomings in Europe haven’t impacted on those perceptions, even when Serie A was momentarily on its co-efficient’s coat-tails because in truth between Inter winning the treble and Juventus going to last year’s final in Berlin, there hasn’t exactly been much to be proud of.
Instead they are offset by this idea of England as where it’s at. The TV money, distribution of wealth, the investment in teams and infrastructure further enhance its appeal. What Ranieri is achieving at Leicester finally gives weight to the impression that anyone can win the Premier league even if this does still feel like a once in a lifetime event.
Overall, though, what matters most is the notion of England as a great place to watch, play and work in football. At the beginning of the season Ranieri spoke to Il Corriere dello Sport about his first impressions of Leicester. He was blown away by what he found. Not one, not two, but three video analysts. The same number of perfectly manicured pitches at the training ground, all camera-monitored and ready for performance review. A wine list so that he could choose which bottle to offer the opposing manager after the game, an “English tradition” that Ancelotti and Mancini have used on many occasions to illustrate the difference in culture between England and Italy.
Both tend to emphasise the contrasts in ‘environment’ and Ranieri touched upon this on the radio this week. “The English have asked me so many times how I deal with the stress,” he said, “but they don’t realise what we Italians put up with!” It’s not hyperbole. The relative pressure is greater in Italy. Jose Mourinho still claims it is the hardest place to work. The win-at-all-costs mentality, cross examinations in pre-and post game interviews and plurality of interests involved wear you down and leave you permanently on edge.
After appearing more zen at the beginning of this season and putting it down to his experience in England, Mancini explained giving Milan fans the finger and telling a TV host that her questions were rubbish as a re-adjustment to the environment in Italy and one he was unable to fight even against his better judgement. It had pulled him back in. Brought him back down to its level.
“Working in football in Italy is difficult,” Ranieri explained to Sky Italia, “because we get a little exasperated by everything that goes on around it. You always start out with: ‘We’ve got a project. We have a plan. We’re going to do this. We’re going to do that’. But after three games all that can go out of the window: the projects, the plans, the conviction that you’re the right manager and this here is our problem.
“We’re very tactical. We’re all convinced that we know everything there is to know about football. But all it takes is two or three games and everything can go up in smoke. Sometimes in order to sell a few extra season tickets, your chairman and directors will say that their team is ready to win the league or get into Europe and that puts pressure on the players and the coach, which isn’t positive. This is where we get it wrong. We are not planners. We are born to win. We’ve got to win and that’s that. Everything else doesn’t matter.”
It’s one of the reasons why Ranieri has expressed a wish to finish his career at Leicester. Understandably there has been clamour for him to replace Conte as Italy coach but after his experience with Greece, he acknowledges that it is not for him and who can blame him. Rather than feel snubbed, a nation roots for Ranieri.
The title race ended in Italy on Monday but even when it still had Italy gripped at the beginning of April, an editorial in Il Corriere dello Sport spoke for many when it admitted to giving into “the urge to turn the channel over to the Premier League once, twice, a hundred times” to follow Leicester. Ranieri, “a gentleman of the bench” as La Repubblica calls him, is the pride of Italy as he nears the greatest feat of football management of our times. And yet this is so much more than that. Because Ranieri is proof that nice guys don’t always finish last. Or second for that matter. Sometimes, they win.
James Horncastle @JamesHorncastle
