Claudio Ranieri tips Roma for the Scudetto, hails Francesco Totti and reveals he left Juventus because of Fabio Cannavaro.
The Leicester City manager spoke to the Corriere dello Sport newspaper and discussed his two-year spell in Turin from 2007 to 2009.
“With Juve it ended when I decided that it should end. I also have to point out that my spells at clubs have always been finished by me.
Claudio Ranieri tips Roma for the Scudetto, hails Francesco Totti and reveals he left Juventus because of Fabio Cannavaro.
The Leicester City manager spoke to the Corriere dello Sport newspaper and discussed his two-year spell in Turin from 2007 to 2009.
“With Juve it ended when I decided that it should end. I also have to point out that my spells at clubs have always been finished by me.
“We no longer agreed on transfer strategy. I was told that we’d agree on and buy players between the three of us: me, director of sport Alessio Secco and general manager Jean-Claude Blanc.
“The moment came when a choice was made that I didn’t agree with, but they told me that the two of them had decided. So I said fine, then I’ll go instead. They fired me two games before the end of the season, but the matter was done and dusted by that point.
“Who was the player? I can say it now, it was Cannavaro. He was a great player, but it didn’t seem right that six stars went down to Serie B and took Juventus back into the top flight. Meanwhile he went off to Real Madrid and won a Scudetto only to just come back again?
“Cannavaro did well, it was just an issue of what was fair to the team. It was my opinion, not that of the locker room.”
Ranieri has never disguised he is a Roma supporter and his time at the Stadio Olimpico was also ended abruptly by his resignation in February 2011.
“Totti is a wonderful person and at the age of 39 can still make a big impact. I say that Jose Altafini used to come on for 15 minutes and score. Totti is so intelligent and should handle himself that way.
“As for my exit, I have one great quality, and that is I can sense when something is changing in the air at my clubs. Over the summer I’d already told the lads that it was a different atmosphere.
“I asked them if I was the problem, as I was more of a Roma fan than anyone, but they insisted that wasn’t the case.
“People in Rome keep asking me about the Giampaolo Pazzini goal for Sampdoria that ended our Scudetto, but the fact is we dropped a lot of points that year. We managed one against a Livorno side that got relegated.”
Another issue Ranieri was never allowed to live down was substituting Totti and Daniele De Rossi during the Rome Derby against Lazio.
“I hadn’t imagined myself being crucified in Via dei Gladiatori… What really matters is what’s best for the team and in that game things weren’t going the way I thought. They may well have been upset, but when we won they celebrated with the others.
“Daniele is a great player and if he had left Roma, he would’ve won many more trophies. He might not agree with that and he chose to stay.”
The Giallorossi were unable to clinch the title then, but Ranieri believes they can do it this season.
“Roma are the favourites for the Scudetto because they maintained their Coach and improved the side where they needed to.”