Juventus Appoint Ranieri as Coach
The Former Chelsea and Parma Manager has Replaced Deschamps at Juve
Following promotion to Serie A, Juventus parted company with their coach,Didier Deschamps, but have appointed former Chelsea coach,Claudio 'the Tinkerman' Ranieri.
Juventus have turned to Claudio Ranieri as coach for their fist season back in Serie A. In the past twelve months they have turned round a very difficult situation following their demotion to Serie B having been found guilty of match-fixing. Juventus started the season on minus nine points in Serie B but under their former player, Didier Deschamps, who was appointed last summer, they overcame that difficulty and gained promotion.
However, following promotion, Deschamps, who had won the Champions League with the club, and Juventus parted company leaving the club to search for a new coach as they prepared for the new season in Serie A. At first it was thought that a former Juventus coach would return to the club but Marcello Lippi who had led Italy to World Cup success last summer decided to remain in retirement.
Following Deschamps’ departure it did not take the club long to appoint a new coach, former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri taking up the position within a week. The former Parma manager had been on a wanted list by Manchester City but having resigned the position at Parma he was appointed at Juventus within four days.
Ranieri at Chelsea
Claudio Ranieri was manager of Chelsea for four years prior to the appointment of Jose Mourinho in May, 2004. He became known in the British press as the ‘tinkerman’ for his numerous team changes, constantly ‘tinkering’ with the formation and the rotation of players. However, he set the foundations for Chelsea’s current success buying many of the players who were to find success at the club. Frank Lampard, Eidur Gudjohnsen, J ohn Terry, Damien Duff, William Gallas, Petr Cech, Arjen Robben, Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge and Claude Makelele were all at Stamford Bridge during Ranieri's time in charge.He was unfortunate to lose his post but Chelsea under the new ownership of Roman Abramovich wanted a high profile manager and Mourinho, following his Champions League success with Porto, fitted the bill better than Ranieri.
Ranieri’s position was constantly under threat at Chelsea and shortly after Abramovich bought Chelsea there was much speculation that Sven Goran Eriksson, the England manager, was about to take over at Stamford Bridge. He had been seen meeting with Chelsea but Rainieri held on to his position for a further year and took Chelsea to runners-up place in the Premier League, their highest finish for forty nine years.
On leaving Chelsea Ranieri spent eight months in a second spell at Valencia but on being sacked he was out of football for two years before going to Parma.
Ranieri at Parma
Ranieri had been appointed coach at Parma in February and was given the task of saving them from relegation. The team was struggling at that time but Ranieri guided them to the safety of a twelfth place finish. On resigning, it had been thought that he would return to England as manager of Manchester City but he decided to remain in Italy with Juventus.
Ranieri has been appointed at Juventus with a three year contract but he knows all about football life in Italy having also coached at Cagliari, Napoli and Fiorentina. He also has experience in Spain with Valencia and Atletico Madrid.
