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| Claudio Ranieri |
“Most
people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they
aim too low and hit.” – Les Brown, American motivational speaker and author.
Sometimes
life doesn't follow a script. And apparently Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City
boss, didn’t bother to read Brown’s oft-quoted phrase.
When he
took over the Foxes in July last year, Ranieri’s brief was to help the team
avoid relegation. And even that task seemed too onerous for him. Bookmakers said
he was one of the favourites to be sacked.
Former
Leicester striker and hometown hero Gary Lineker derided the appointment,
calling it an “uninspiring choice.” Yet the man, unperturbed, got down to work.
Under Ranieri’s
tutelage, the Foxes outfoxed everyone, and today they are champions of England,
their first trophy in their 132-year history. It is also the first time Ranieri
has won a major trophy in his 30 years as a coach.
When
it's your time, it's your time. The 64-year-old Italian had managed illustrious
teams such as Chelsea, Juventus, Inter Milan, Valencia, Atletico Madrid and
Monaco, among others. Yet he never won a league title. Then he came to
unfancied Leicester City that most pundits had predicted would be relegated
–and won the Premiership, the toughest league in Europe!
When he
first arrived, Ranieri was so concerned about the team leaking goals that he
promised the players pizza if they kept a clean sheet. It was not until the end
of October (after 12 attempts) that the players were finally able to get their
pizza. The manager took them to a local eatery – but they had to roll up their
sleeves and make them.
The wily
Italian used the occasion as a part of team bonding. And by the second half of
the season he had built a defence that became near impregnable.
What is
the magic of Ranieri's success? Hard work, vision, or just plain luck? Whatever
it is the amiable manager has written his name in gold in the unlikeliest of
places. What he couldn't do when he managed perennial winners, he did with a
team whose only ambition was to avoid relegation. So much for having low
expectations.
Ranieri
threw the form books out of the window. He used the “archaic” 4-4-2 system to
great effect. His team conceded possession to opponents all the time and he
didn’t have any star names.
Instead
the team boasts of players nobody wanted. Danny Drinkwater, the team’s midfield
maestro, was released by Manchester United years ago. Marc Albrighton was
released by Aston Villa in 2014, Robert Huth was surplus to requirements at
Stoke and Nathan Dyer is on loan from Swansea.
Jamie
Vardy who is now 29, was not considered a good striker, but he ended up
breaking the Premier League record for most consecutive goals (11). He also
became the first Leicester City player to score 20 goals in one season since
Gary Lineker in the 1980s.
Ranieri’s
success is the stuff of fairy tales. Back in 2004 Roman Abramovich sacked him
as Chelsea boss and replaced him with Jose Mourinho. He got a revenge of sorts 11
years later when Mourinho was sacked after losing to Ranieri’s Leicester. Then
Leicester won the league title without kicking a ball. Chelsea did the job for
them by playing a 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspurs at Stamford Bridge. And he
won the title on the birthday of his 94-year-old mother!
If this
were a screenplay, the screenwriter wouldn’t have done a better job. Sometimes
truth is stranger than fiction. Ranieri has proved that no one can predict the
future. Yet pundits have started predicting that Leicester will find it hard to
replicate their success. The same pundits who put the odds of Leicester winning
the league at 5000-1.
Some people never learn.
Photo credit: Daily Mail
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