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| Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has been voted Italian Manager of the Year |
The Italian Manager of the Year
Personal information
Date of birth: 20 October 1951
Age: 64
Place of birth: Rome, Italy
Playing position: Defender
Club information
Current team: Leicester City (manager)
Senior career
1973–1974: Roma 6 Appearances, 0 goals
1974–1982: Catanzaro 225 Appearances, 8 goals
1982–1984: Catania 92 Appearances, 1 goal
1984–1986: Palermo 40 Appearances, 0 goals
Teams Managed
1986–1987: Lametini
1987–1988: Puteolana
1988–1991: Cagliari
1991–1993: Napoli
1993–1997: Fiorentina
1997–1999: Valencia
1999–2000: Atletico Madrid
2000–2004: Chelsea
2004–2005: Valencia
2007: Parma
2007–2009: Juventus
2009–2011: Roma
2011–2012: Inter Milan
2012–2014: Monaco
2014: Greece
2015– Leicester City
It’s been a season to remember for Claudio Ranieri after helping Leicester lift the Premier League and now the charismatic 64-year-old has collected the Enzo Bearzot Award.
The highly-coveted accolade is awarded to the Italian manager of the year, as voted for by a jury composed of representatives of major Italian sports newspapers.
Ranieri returned home to Rome to accept the award on Monday following Leicester’s title-winning celebrations.
Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio wants Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri to coach Italy to a World Cup win in the future.
Ranieri lifted the Enzo Bearzot award as Italy’s coach of the season in Rome on Monday after leading 5,000/1 shots Leicester to the Premier League title.
Bearzot, who died in 2010, was Italy’s 1982 World-Cup winning coach.
After 30 years in management, Ranieri, 64, has finally secured his first top-flight title after guiding unfancied Leicester to the Premier League trophy.
Ranieri experienced mixed fortunes with Chelsea and Valencia, and Italian clubs including Juventus, Roma, Parma and Inter Milan, also enduring a forgettable spell as the head coach of Greece.
But Tavecchio feels his countryman could eventually follow in the footsteps of Vittorio Pozzo, Enzo Bearzot and Marcello Lippi by steering Italy to the greatest prize in world football.
Notorious for his chopping and changing of personnel after spending in excess of £100m at Chelsea, Ranieri resisted the urge to needlessly tinker with his squad at the King Power Stadium. Instead he has relied upon the sheer consistency of the same core group.
Leicester, who have admittedly had Lady Luck firmly in their corner when it comes to injuries, named an unchanged side in 12 of their last 15 top-flight outings before being forced to alter things slightly to cater for the suspension of Jamie Vardy.
They have actually used just 23 players in total this term, the lowest number of any Premier League club.
In a similar vein, a measured and rational strategy adopted during the January transfer window has also proved crucial.
Level on points with leaders Arsenal heading into the New Year, Leicester might have been tempted to loosen the purse strings and invite owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha to lavish millions on a string of high-profile new recruits with the intention of reinforcing the most unlikely of title bids.
Instead, Ranieri made just three relatively low-key additions, looking more towards the future by snapping up one of the Football League’s most impressive young talents in Birmingham City winger Demarai Gray on a four-and-a-half year deal.
Versatile Ghana international Daniel Amartey also arrived from FC Copenhagen, and Danish U-19 goalkeeper Daniel Iversen was signed from Esbjerg.
A new frontman to complement the established trio of Vardy, Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa was also on the agenda after loaning club-record signing Andrej Kramaric to Hoffenheim, but the pursuit of Eder eventually proved unsuccessful as he left Sampdoria for Inter.
Potential deals for the likes of Ahmed Musa, Dwight Gayle and Loic Remy did not come off either, but that disappointment did not halt their significant progress.
Ranieri wasted little time in instigating a purge of Chelsea’s backroom staff after taking over from Gianluca Vialli in 2000, swiftly moving on the likes of Ray Wilkins and Graham Rix before a change in role led to the resignation of goalkeeping coach Eddie Niedzwiecki.
A new manager’s desire to bring in his own trusted assistants is certainly nothing new or surprising, but such a quick overhaul can often have an adverse effect – as evidenced by David Moyes’ failed stint at Manchester United.
That approach has been revised since and another key aspect in the Italian’s success in the East Midlands has been the stabilising presence of assistants Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh, both of whom were mainstays of the previous regime.
The latter’s influence has been especially evident in his role as head of recruitment, with tireless midfielder N’Golo Kante proving a revelation and earning a PFA Player of the Year nomination following his move from Caen last summer.
The rise to global prominence of award winner Riyad Mahrez has also been a testament to his scouting skills.
This may not seem like rocket science, but pivotal to Leicester’s rise has been their style which, much to the chagrin of Arsenal and Spurs supporters alike, is not built upon swashbuckling and attractive passing football.
To label them as just a long-ball team would be slightly unfair, but there is no doubt that constant possession is not a priority in their traditional 4-4-2 system.
Instead, they are quite content to let their opponents keep hold of the ball and rely upon their solid defensive unit, brilliantly marshalled by captain Wes Morgan and uncompromising centre-back partner Roberth Huth, to snuff out any danger before using Mahrez’s trickery and Vardy’s pace on the counter.
It may not always be pretty, but it’s hard to argue that such a direct style is not ruthlessly effective.
Along with his usual amusing quotes and zany catchphrases, one constant theme of Ranieri’s press conferences this term has been his pragmatic attitude and almost a genuine unwillingness to accept that Leicester had indeed morphed from relegation fodder into title contenders.
A refusal to get carried away was evident in his persistent assertions that the team were simply looking to secure enough points for survival, and this approach undoubtedly helped his players not to get too far ahead of themselves.
Only when Champions League qualification was sealed after a 2-0 win over Sunderland and with five matches left to play did the manager finally appear to concede that they were aiming to win the whole thing.