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Chronicles of Tinkerman
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As another trophy less regime comes to an abrupt end for Claudio Ranieri, Srikant Iyer analyses the workings of the Tinkerman to figure out what went wrong at the Turin Club.

Three years after their ignominious fall into the dark abyss of the Calcipoli; Juventus are back but struggling to find their stride in the second season since their return to the Italian Serie A. Following problems with squad stability and inability to hold on to a string of good results, the club has become synonymous to a “Poisoned Chalice” in recent times. Moreover, undergoing a barren period of two months with no wins in the last 7 games saw the Bianconeri come close to losing 3rd position to a resurgent Fiorentina. This combined with disappointing exits in the Copa Italia and the Champions’ League, compelled the management to relent to the fans’ demands and make serious changes at the club. So as the Claudio Ranieri was shown the door at the Stadio Olimpico Di Torino, club favourite and current Italy assistant coach, Ciro Ferrara has taken over for the remaining two matches, with speculation rife about his permanent appointment at the club.

Claudio Ranieri has had a penchant for building teams that reached the brink of hitting the big time, but could never really negotiate the final hurdle. During his first spell at Valencia, Ranieri built a good team which after his departure transformed into a great team under Hector Cuper achieving successes in the Champions’ League and the La Liga. Ranieri's first spell at Valencia is popularly regarded as a precursor of what would later happen at Chelsea, since both clubs achieved success which was in part attributable to the input of Ranieri.

But the “Tinkerman” has been notoriously sacked from the last 3 jobs at Athletico Madrid, Chelsea and Valencia (second stint) respectively and only managed to restore some pride by saving Parma from near certain relegation in 2007-08. His performance at Parma was enough to convince the Juventus bosses who decided to put him at the helm of the major re-building project at the Turin club. Despite a young and inexperienced squad and poor transfer signings by club director Alessio Secco, a third place finish and Champions’ League qualification during his first season at the club won him some faith within the hesitant Bianconeri fans.

Since then, Ranieri has failed to build on his previous good work. His constant inability to stamp tactical authority on crunch matches saw him slowly lose out on the faith of the bosses and the supporters. Unassuming and soft-spoken that he is, Ranieri always has been projected in a “nice guy” image - a stark contrast to fiery characters such as the cavalier Zdenek Zeman, Palermo president Zamparini, the ‘Machiavellian’ Luciano Moggi and bordering-on-arrogant Mourinho. However this very mildness gave a vibe of self doubt, much like in the case of Avram Grant, which partially led him to lose respect in the player dressing room, media and the fans. Perhaps, one of the major reasons of a trophy-less career spanning over twenty years.

His team selections were far too questionable at times and the football they dished out even more insipid. The constant overuse of an ageing Del Piero led to Pinturrichio’s loss of his purple run of form. The gross underutilization of the versatile ‘Atomic Ant’ Giovinco, led to a slow growth of a prodigious young prospect whilst players of similar caliber (Pato and Balotelli) got regular chances to grow as players and to establish themselves key roles in their respective starting elevens’. A rigid 4-4-2 system often went out of sync with the trequartista abilities of Del Piero. He also strictly depended on two-pivot holding roles generally played by Sissoko, Zanetti, Marchisio or Tiago, which confined the team’s creative play to making repeated crosses from the wing. Ironically, their best winger Mauro Camoranesi spent most of the season on the medic’s table than on the pitch providing crosses. Indeed, injuries have seen at least half the best eleven sidelined for majority of the year, but that is just one part of the story that saw the Old Lady fail to build on last season’s success.

However, it wouldn’t be prudent to hold Ranieri alone responsible for Juve’s instability and general lack of direction. The management as a whole, have been frequently been caught lacking foresight and ability. It just so happens that the coach is not only the perfect scapegoat but also a much easier variable to change than the entire club management. The two year courting of Diego was quite contradictory considering he prefers to play as a Trequartista, something which Ranieri rarely used. That leads us to believe that Ranieri’s role at the club was always looked at as a temporary one and the completion of Diego’s signing was perhaps, the final nail in the Tinkerman’s coffin. So what happens after Ranieri’s departure?

For now, the focus for Ferrara would be to hold on to the third place as the changes in the Champions’ League format sees the top three clubs from the Serie A gain automatic qualification to the group stages. Also, according to next seasons Champions’ League format a fourth place finish could mean much tougher competition for the Old Lady in the qualification rounds. A respectable end to the season could see the former Napoli and Bianconeri favorite being promoted form care-taker to full time coach. The management also plans to make the most during the Transfer window this season with Alessio Secco the clubs football director already gearing up for the summer by snapping on the heels of Quagliarella, Cannavaro, Fabio Grosso, Cassano and a host of others. On the coaching side of things former player and Captain Antonio Conte, who has successfully led Bari to Serie A this year, is seen as a Pep-Guardiola-esque favourite to take over next season. Luciano Spalleti, Mancini have also been considered.

For now Claudio Ranieri has once again been sacrificed at the altar of success and it would be interesting to see if the successor would live up to the trend and inherit success during the forthcoming seasons. If that happens, it would just enforce the Tinkerman’s legacy of being the manager that a team needs but does not deserve.

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