Claudio Ranieri explains his man-management technique, complains Italian teams are ‘slaves to tactics’ and hopes there is ‘another Leicester City fairy tale’ in future.
The veteran came out of retirement in November to rescue his beloved Roma, taking them from just above the relegation zone to a fifth-place finish.
As planned, he then stepped aside to make way for new boss Gian Piero Gasperini and will be working with the club in a special advisory role.
Ranieri received an award today from the Italian Coaches’ Association and spoke to the media about what makes a great tactician.
“Certainly being honest with your players, telling them what you think, even if it’s bad,” said the legendary boss.
“You must understand those who get hurt easily, but in general my telling off has always been one on one, face to face. I never told a player ‘it’s your fault we lost, look at what you did.’ I just tried to improve what I was given and am fortunate enough to have many video clips of moves to show what went wrong.
“I believe that the motivation of showing players what they did right is even more important than criticising them for what was done badly. You need to go over the errors in training, and there are players who understand the first time, while others cannot get it into their heads. If you can, you change those players, but otherwise you just give them a lot of hugs and try to keep going.”
Ranieri is 73 years old and started his management career in 1986, so he must’ve seen a lot of changes in the world of football during that time.
“Oh totally, you must always keep up to date. Every time I was fired, I would travel around Europe to see how other coaches work, because I believe that is important. It opens up the mind.”
He is also rare for having worked in so many different countries, including Spain, France, Greece and of course England, allowing him to see the differences with Italian football.
“I think in Italy we are slaves to tactics, so much that talented players come here and struggle to integrate. In England and France, tactics are important, but not as special as they are in Italy,” insisted Ranieri.
“Over there, I would set out some basic concepts and then would try to get them working with each other, after identifying their characteristics. In Italy, we keep players caged up too much. At the same time, do not listen to those who claim we focus on Catenaccio, because when you see an opponent that is much stronger than you, then you have to keep 10 men behind the ball.
“So yes, we can be Italian and not lose sight of ourselves, but also keep our eyes and minds open to other ideas.”
There have been reports today he could be lined up to replace Luciano Spalletti as Italy coach.
The highlight of Ranieri’s career was winning the Premier League title with Leicester City, an achievement that will go down in history as practically unique.
“When I went to Leicester, they had just fired their coach and were known as a yo-yo team. The President asked me to keep them in the top flight. As time wore on, we gradually found ourselves on 40 points.
“I tried not to put too much responsibility on the lads. One step at a time, we created this marvellous symbiosis between coach, team and fans. I hope that there will be more Leicester City fairy tales in future.
“I hope that another team finds its north star and, in the same season, the other big clubs aren’t as consistent as they usually are. I hope that happens, because this is the beauty of football,” concluded Ranieri.
