Arrividerci Claudio. Its really too bad - I had hoped he would stay. Thanks for the good years Claudio, and I wish you luck in the future. Just not against us. And it really is too bad about the way you were treated. Hope you enjoy that enormous payout So I suppose we should all welcome Senor Mourinho, our new manager. Lets hope he does well, and doesn't turn is into Porto north. (It is a very good sign though that his players want to come with him.)
dont let the way he was axed let your mind be clouded over how inept tactically CR was as a manager, i welcome someone who hopefully wont have so many failing moments in big games like claudio had.
********ing stupid. Mourinho better keep the number of Porto players he brings with him to a minimum. By the way, here's another article.
Sad to see him go and will wait to see him prove Kenyon and Abramovich wrong at his next club. It will be interesting to see how Chelsea play in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Mourinho as coach.
Just heard the news. Its quite sad although inevitable. Oh well here we go again. Another few years wait for a trophy/or trophies, unless Mourinho gets really lucky in his first year. Its time to get behind the new man Good Luck CR wherever you may go, and thanks. And you have proved that you are human too!!
Indeed - i am lookin forward to the trip quite a bit more now. I suppose that we'll be getting down to the serious business of signing Mourinhos players now, although i would say he's already let the powers that be know who he wants already.
Ranieri was numero uno at Betfair to take over Tottenham before this was announced today. I like him, but my frist choice to take over THFC would probably be Vicente del Bosque.
Another article in The Times. It's nice to know that Kenyon was too much of pu$$y to tell Claudio himself. What a coward. I had to change my signature line.
Good article, just wanted to highlight this again RANIERI FACTFILE Born: October 20 1951, Rome. Playing career: Defender with Roma, Catanzaro, Catania. 1985: First coaching job with amateur side Vigor Lamezia. 1985: Coach of Campania, Serie B. 1987: Coach at Cagliari in Serie C. Rebuilt team and won promotion in successive seasons to Serie A. 1991: To Napoli where he promoted Gianfranco Zola to first team to replace Diego Maradona. 1993: Takes over Fiorentina in Serie B. 1994: Wins Serie B and promotion with Fiorentina. 1996: Wins Italian Cup. 1997: Takes his reputation for building teams to Valencia. 1999: Wins Spanish Cup and qualifies for Champions League. 1999: To Atlético Madrid but his tenure is brief and he leaves after they go into administration. 2000: Replaces Gianluca Vialli at Chelsea. 2002: Losing FA Cup finalists to Arsenal. 2003: Earns fourth-place finish and Champions League place. 2003-04: Steers Chelsea to second in championship, their highest position for 49 years, and to the European Cup semi-finals. not much silverware here, but just look at his abilities to transform and rebuild teams.
Well, the first season of the Abramovich era probably starts now. Now, he has a man he has chosen as manager and who we must assume will act in the way that Abramovich demands. At first, I was going to call the firing of Ranieri, the first big mistake made during the Abramovich era. But, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in that, he only took control of the team last July and didn't have time to make all the moves he wanted to before last season. Where does that leave us? Right where we were at the beginning of last season, albeit with a core group of players who now have one season together under their collective belts. Chelsea fans must give Mourinho this season to sort the team. Once again in the Chelsea tradition, we have another year where there is really no pressure to win anything. Chelsea can finish second in the league, do well in the CL and FA Cup, and everyone will be all smiles next May. So that will mean after two seasons, Abramovich will have spent well over 500 million pounds (if he goes out and spends another 100 million this summer on players) and not have won anything. Better to not throw good money after bad, for sure, but.... Well, good luck to Mourinho and the new Portugese contigent. Chelsea now will most certainly get Dido or Dico or whoever from Porto, and who knows maybe Morientes from Monaco. Most of Claudio's Italian contingent (Mutu, Crespo, Veron, Cudicini(?)) are probably on the way out, as are the older players (JFH, Desailly, Petit, Bogarde, Stanic) and marginal players will probably be loaned out or sold (Melchiot, Gronkjaer, Zenden, C.Cole, Forssell, Babayaro). I can't say I'm happy, but at least now Chelsea can get on with it.
Did you miss that part about taking Cagliarli from Serie C to Serie A, or perhaps Fiorentina from B to one of the stronger sides in A? I mean, seriously, you don't have to like the guy, but his record speaks for itself. Onto the actual sacking. A foolish move, Ranieri came so close this year with injuries to key squad members (Duff sticks out, he is such a difference maker giving the team width) and you'd have to imagine his "tinkering" spirit would actually be an asset on a team with the star power Chelsea will have after bringing in Robben and whoever else the summer invites. England isn't Portugal, and I think that Mourinho will find that out the hard way.
Now with Benitez resigning, it looks like Ranieri could be headed back to Valencia. I hope the win LaLiga again - he'd deserve it.
Him & Gordon Strachan, although he wasn't quite as funny when he got a grasp of the English language (his comment on a young player at the start of the 20/03 season... I think it was C. Cole, was hilarious, about him sometimes playing like a lion and others like a rabbit or mouse - I'm too tired to remember it, though). Sad to see him go, he helped Chelsea progress so much, and just got pushed out the door like that. It has seriously lowered my opinion of Roman, even if it has been inevitable for almost half a year. Peter Kenyon couldn't get any lower in my estimation, so no changes there.
Funny how times change. I remember being so angry with Bates, et al when Vialli was sacked and how outraged I was at how he was treated. And how I thought that this new, unknown Ranieri would never fill the void left by Vialli. Sound familiar to anyone else? Oh well on to a new manager. Welcome Jose, goodbye and many thanks Claudio, just dont take the Spurs job.
Didn't RA sack Ranieri because he didn't win silverware? This comming season is supposed to be the year we win. It would have been easier with Ranieri, but sh1t happens so, lets go Jose!
I think RA/Peter Kenyon just doesnt see Ranieri as the manager for Chelsea no matter what he acheives, which is sad. Hes done everything required of him and a little more. But why oh why do they give a manager 120 million pounds to go spend on transfers only to sack him at the end of the year. Chelsea is Ranieri's team now, hes built it for his style and formation and only he knows how to get the most out of it. If they were allways gonna replace him they should have said so from the start, maybe hire a temp, and buy for the arrival of the new manager. Instead, Mourinho will come, he'll have his own formation, his own style, half the players wont fit into it, so he will have to sell off half the squad and buy more squad players at the cost of another 120 million or so. Not only that, but it will take the team at least another season to adapt to all the changes to personell and formation/style before we can compete for the premiership and champions league. Why oh why did we abandon the manager when his system of play was 80-90% complete only to start all again, weve wasted a season.