Chelsea FC player evaluations 2015/16: 4 ex-Blues
By George Perry
Claudio Ranieri: Leicester City
Between the monks and the king, plenty of good karma went into Leicester City’s Premier League championship. Claudio Ranieri banked some cosmic positivity from his time at Chelsea, and the soccer gods settled their account with the Tinkerman when he arrived at Leicester.
Ranieri was the last manager the Ken Bates regime hired at Chelsea. Which means he was the first manager under Roman Abramovich. Which means he was the first of many managers to be fired by Roman Abramovich.
Before getting the sack, Ranieri built the core of the team that would earn every domestic and European trophy for his successors. John Terry, Joe Cole, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard and William Gallas became Blues because of Claudio Ranieri before they became legends under Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto di Matteo.
Ranieri did more than just identify and sign talented youngsters to Chelsea. He set the team on its trajectory, taking Chelsea to second place in the Premier League behind Arsenal’s “Invincibles” and setting records for fewest goals scored and most points in a season. However, he was not to raise a trophy for over a decade.
When Ranieri took the reins at Leicester City, Nigel Pearson had assembled the bulk of the team that would complete the improbable title run. Pearson signed the unheralded Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez for the greatest bargain of all time. He developed Kaspar Schmeichel from a decent Championship-level goalkeeper into the stopper that delivered his team 15 pizza-party clean sheets. He built the leadership core around captain Wes Morgan and former Chelsea defender Robert Huth.
Just as Claudio Ranieri built Jose Mourinho’s championship team, Pearson built Ranieri’s.
Ranieri’s legacy to Mourinho was a team that only had one place left to climb to claim his first Premier League title. Ranieri, on the other hand, inherited a team that was written off for relegation but, as history would show, was built to be champions.
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