‘Just When I thought I was Out, They Pull Me Back In’: Claudio Ranieri’s Third Roma Stint is an Act of Love

Like a true Roman soldier, Claudio Ranieri is returning to the capital to coach his beloved Roma for a third time.

The former Fiorentina, Valencia, Cagliari, Chelsea, Juventus and Inter manager answered the call from the Friedkin Group to take charge of Roma once again after a list of potential candidates either didn’t want the job or weren’t fancied by the American owners.

Ivan Juric, inevitably, fell on his sword on Sunday following the Giallorossi’s 3-2 home defeat to Bologna. It was a sacking most saw coming. Juric is a respectable coach in the Italian game, but walking into a situation like the one at Roma was always going to be a poisoned chalice. 

The dismissal of Daniele De Rossi, arguably Roma’s second most-loved player after Francesco Totti, was an own goal of epic proportions by the Roma hierarchy. The season was a mere four games old when De Rossi was sacked, seemingly the loser in a tug-of-war with then-club CEO Lina Souloukou. 

Such was the backlash from Romanisti that Souloukou herself had to resign from the position amid threats that resulted in police protection. In walked Juric as his replacement, the lamest of lame ducks. He lasted all of two months after just three league wins and a 5-1 humiliation at the hands of Fiorentina. Vincenzo Montella, Frank Lampard, Max Allegri, Erik ten Hag, Graham Potter and Edin Terzic were all linked with the job. 

According to reports in Italy, Montella’s agreement with the Turkey national side included a €1.5m release clause, but the former Roma striker wanted a three-year deal to return to Italy, which proved a stumbling block. Allegri supposedly wasn’t interested, while Lampard, Potter, Ten Hag and Terzic were all ruled out by the club owners.

With options limited, the Friedkin Group reached out to Ranieri, and the 73-year-old has accepted the challenge. 

Ranieri guided Cagliari into Serie A in dramatic fashion in 2022-23, winning the playoff final against Bari in the final minute. Survival last season in Serie A was achieved with several games to spare and Ranieri stated his intention to retire. “I have finished my career as a club coach,” he told Sky Sport Italia before Cagliari’s last game against Fiorentina.

To paraphrase Al Pacino in the much-maligned-but-not-as-bad-as-everyone-thinks Godfather part III – just when Ranieri thought he was out, Roma pull him back in.

Ranieri will sign a deal until the end of the season to coach Roma for a third time, and it’s been suggested he’ll move upstairs to become a director of the club next summer. 

It’s a smart move by the Friedkin Group, bringing back a beloved Roma figure who the fans will instantly get behind for the remainder of the campaign. Over the last decade, Ranieri has almost morphed into an Italian national treasure. A man of class and dignity, despite football’s tribalism where anyone can be made a target by opposing fans, Ranieri has a universal appreciation, making him a rare species within football.

Born in San Saba, a district in the heart of the Eternal City famous for its church and adjoined monastery, Ranieri had said in the past he could never refuse a call from Roma. He was as good as his word in 2019 when he took over from Eusebio Di Francesco for the final few months of the season after a 3-0 humiliation from city rivals Lazio in the derby.

Ranieri’s first spell at Roma is the one most can recall clearer, when he took Roma so very close to the Scudetto in 2009-10, only to fall against Sampdoria and an inspired Giampaolo Pazzini with the title in touching distance. It’s the closest Ranieri ever came to winning Italy’s biggest prize and, although he’d never state it publicly, if he was offered the chance to swap the Premier League title win with Leicester City for a Scudetto with Roma, he’d likely not think twice about it.

200 fans turned up at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Wednesday evening to greet him, with chants of ‘Ranieri, he’s one of us’ hanging in the air. Ranieri’s first move will be to appease the voices of discontent in the locker room. 

A coach who’s always valued experience, Ranieri will likely give Mats Hummels the opportunities neither De Rossi nor Juric afforded him (which always felt odd considering Hummels was exceptional against Real Madrid in the Champions League final just five months ago). Paulo Dybala is another Ranieri will attempt to win over, with the Argentine dropped for the Bologna defeat and not having the best of seasons.

Other senators in the dressing room, such as Lorenzo Pellegrini and Bryan Cristante, will be vital to Ranieri in bringing stability. Ranieri is neither interested in the possession-based approach of De Rossi or the aggressive one-for-one pressing of Juric, and so the likes of Pellegrini, Cristante and Hummels can be expected to get a fair shake. 

Yet his appointment demonstrates the Friedkin Group have no clear idea semblance of a project. De Rossi, Juric and Ranieri all have different approaches to the game, and barring a minor miracle, the owners are effectively writing the season off as early as November in the hope of starting afresh next summer. 

Considering their outlay of over €100m in the summer, this feels such a colossal waste of money. The Friedkins had been one of the better American owners to enter the Italian game in recent years, but since Jose Mourinho’s sacking at the beginning of the year, they’ve got more wrong than right. 

Such is the congestion in the top half of Serie A, Ranieri will bring Roma into the top half in no time, a couple of wins should see to that. Yet questions linger about where the long-term vision is from the owners. 

Ranieri couldn’t ask for a more difficult start: his opening three games are Napoli, Tottenham and Atalanta. However considering the circumstances, he’ll get a free pass from fans. 

Other than bringing De Rossi back, this was the next best move to unite a disgruntled fan base: the third coming of Sir Claudio, a son of Rome returning to navigate a leaky ship in choppy waters.