Claudio Ranieri admitted Friday that he needs to hit the ground running in his third spell as Roma coach with his boyhood club languishing near the Serie A relegation zone.
A lifelong Roma fan and Premier League title winner with Leicester City in 2016, Ranieri came out of retirement on Thursday in the hope of saving a troubled season in which he already is the capital club’s third coach following Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Juric.
Roma are 12th in Italy’s top flight, four points above the bottom three and have to travel to league leaders Napoli after the international break before facing Tottenham Hotspur in London and then Atalanta the following weekend.
“I have no time for mistakes, I don’t have time, we’re just starting here and we already have three matches, each one bigger than the previous one,” Ranieri told reporters.
“I have to send the fans home from the stadium saying ‘at least we gave it our all’ if things don’t go how we want… They need to leave the ground proud of the team. That’s all I can promise to the fans and to myself.”
Roma are one of Italy’s biggest and best-supported clubs but have failed to qualify for the Champions League since 2018 and have a modest trophy cabinet in which the most recent honour is the inaugural Conference League from 2022.
Ranieri, who was in great form for reporters, said that he had been given no specific objectives in his role until the end of the season, but that he wanted to take Roma “where our fans dream of being”.
“I don’t want to rule out anything. I know there are difficulties but I’m a positive person,” he said.
“I don’t look at what has happened or what hasn’t happened, I’m always positive right to the end, right until I feel like I’ve given my all.”
‘Shock therapy’
Ranieri will take on a senior executive role at Roma once this season is over, and he will be making decisions on his successor with the billionaire Friedkin family who own the club.
The Friedkins have been the target of fan anger for the way former captain and club icon De Rossi was sacked just four matches into this season despite having signed a three-year contract during the summer.
Roma supporters, who take their local heroes very seriously, never warmed to Juric and the hiring of Ranieri was taken as an attempt to reconnect with a disgruntled fan base which has regularly filled the Stadio Olimpico despite underwhelming results.
“We’ve spoken and we’ll speak again soon, because as well, as being one of my players, Daniele is great person,” he said.
“Changing coach twice by November isn’t easy for anyone. One wants to play in one way and the other in another way, so it’s been a bit like shock therapy.”
Ranieri even hinted that Francesco Totti could return to the club in a backroom role after being shunted aside by previous president James Pallotta following the star’s retirement as a player over seven years ago.
“I’m open to anything,” Ranieri said.
“We’ll obviously speak to Francesco, why not? If he can lend us a hand, let’s see what he can do.”
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