Save Claudio Campaign

Since being appointed manager in September 2000 Claudio Ranieri has done nothing but improve the fortunes of Chelsea Football Club, to the point where last night’s breaking of the Arsenal hoodoo made club history (Chelsea reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time). Clearly this demonstrates Ranieri’s exceptional talent as a football club manager. But it is also in no small part due to the investment of a Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich’s takeover of Chelsea Football Club in July 2003 came at a time when Ranieri’s rebuilding of the team was well underway (and at the right time for the club financially). Before the injection of Abramovich’s millions Ranieri spent three years reshaping the Chelsea team to his liking, gradually improving the club’s finishing position in the Premier League and eventually earning a place in this season’s Champions League (after beating Liverpool 2-1 on the final day of the 2002/03 Premier League season, a game Chelsea needed to win to finish in the top four Champions League qualification places).

Despite Chelsea’s excellent progress in the Premier and Champions League since, Ranieri has become one of English football’s most shabbily treated managers. From day one of the Abramovich reign his job was (and probably still is) under constant threat, mostly notably from the insipid Sven-Goran Eriksson. (Don’t get me wrong — Eriksson is a great manager… for England, but he seems to lack passion and emotion, giving the over-riding impression of dullness.) Admittedly it’s Abramovich’s right to install a manager of his choice, but when you’ve already got a very successful manager in place, who is taking the club places, why bother changing? Ranieri is doing a brilliant job — gradually he’s turning Chelsea Football Club into perennial challengers for both the Premier and Champions League — and to top it all off he has the support of the fans (including fans of rival Premiership clubs) and, more importantly, the players. To my mind, the combination of Abramovich’s investment and Ranieri’s managership is perfect for Chelsea Football Club.

But nothing’s that easy — not at Chelsea anyway. If you believe what the papers say, then Claudio Ranieri will be sacked this summer. Ranieri’s position has seemingly been undermined, not by media speculation, but by a vicious campaign of whispers that seem to be coming right from the very top of Chelsea Football Club. To say that there has been a lack of support is a huge understatement.

In order to show the Chelsea Football Club hierarchy that Claudio Ranieri has significant support among Chelsea fans and the footballing world as a whole, a website titled the “Save Claudio Campaign” has been setup. To date it has 4801 messages of support. Why not add yours?

Republished with the permission of the author.