Did Ranieri betray Cagliari?

There has been an air of contradiction in Sardinia in recent weeks. One of Cagliari's legends, maestro Claudio Ranieri, retired from coaching at the end of last season. He had just managed to save the Italian side with just one point ahead of Frosinone, the highest of the three relegated sides. Everyone understood his decision and a heartfelt tribute was paid to him.

The coach himself, in some media, confessed that, at the age of 72, he was not closing the door on coaching a national team. Throughout his career, he has only taken the reins of one country, Greece, but his stay in Greece lasted only four games, three lost and one drawn, before he landed at the King Power Stadium and made Leicester City champions of England.

The farewell to his Sardinian chapter was the finishing touch to almost four decades of hard work that had culminated with the best of honours for him: a humble goal, permanence. The thing is, six months after his departure, Roma contacted him. Neither the sacking of Daniele de Rossi nor the arrival of Ivan Juric had served to improve the performance of the ‘Giallorossi’, who were a long way from reaching Europe.

Claudio Ranieri, a Roman by birth, accepted the mission and began his third spell in Lazio. Curiously, the current situation at Olimpico is not too far from that of Cagliari. While the Sardinian side are just one point above the drop, the capital outfit have just three points between them and the bottom, which means that, although a sudden and early turnaround is expected for the yellow-and-red outfit, they are, at this moment in time, in the same position of urgency.

Hence, the fans who have so idolised the ‘Vecchio Signore’ have found themselves at a moral crossroads: is it a betrayal to have announced a retirement, with a signed season ahead of him, only to change his mind in half a year, or is it understandable that this has happened considering that the phone number that dialed the legend's number is that of his homeland? Are the thanks for the past enough to justify the discomfort of the present? The public will have to wait until March, when the coach will welcome the ‘Rossoblu’.

 

November 29, 2024