Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri is a former Italian football player and football manager.
Playing career
As a player he played for Roma.
Managerial career
Campania
His first managerial position was at Campania, where he took charge in 1987. It was at Serie C club Cagliari that he made his name, getting them promoted to Serie A from the third division.
Fiorentina
After a brief spell at Napoli, he subsequently had success with Fiorentina.
Valencia
He was the coach from 1997 to 1999 and guided Valencia to the Champions League and the Copa del Rey in 1997.
Atlético Madrid
Joined in 1999 and while manager at Atlético Madrid of Spain the club went into administration.
Chelsea
As manager of Chelsea from September 2000 to 31 May 2004, he worked hard to overcome the language barrier. When he arrived at the London club he could barely speak English; fortunately, the club had few English players at the time, and many players who could speak Italian and as a result they could translate for him.
When Chelsea were taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, Ranieri was given an unlimited transfer fund. He spent £120 million on players in the summer of 2003. Although this brought the best league result for the club in 49 years, finishing runners-up in the Premiership and falling in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League, it was not enough to satisfy many fans, who expected immediate and overwhelming success. Ranieri's defenders noted that Chelsea finished behind the first team in more than a century to go unbeaten all season in England's top league (Arsenal), and that the second-place finish was sufficient to automatically qualify Chelsea for the extremely lucrative group phase of the Champions League.
On May 31 2004, after almost a year of speculation, he was finally dismissed of his coaching duties at Chelsea.
Valencia
On 8 June 2004, he returned for a second stint as coach of Valencia on a two-year contract.
