Proud Man Walking

Back in London, we needed to look after a few players who had picked up injuries on the trip: Mutu and Desailly had ankle problems, Veron was complaining of a troublesome Achilles. Nothing too serious, fortunately, with an away game at Wolverhampton next up.

Before going up to the Midlands, the club made an announcement that would be highly significant for the future of Chelsea. Paul Smith, advisor and trusted associate of Peter Kenyon, was appointed as consultant to the board of directors. This was obviously to fill in the statutory period before Stamford Bridge could welcome Peter Kenyon himself, a figure of such importance in managing the strategies – especially financial – that have guided the fortunes of Manchester United worldwide in recent years. This was the first real sign that things in the structure of the club were indeed about to change. I had never met either of them, even if Peter Kenyon was familiar to me by way of the remarkable results achieved at Old Trafford, but it was obvious that on the marketing and corporate image front, Chelsea had scored a big point in the world business arena. Clearly, when a person of this standing arrives it is normal that each one of us will have had a few private thoughts about what kind of relationship we are likely to have with the new man, and what impact he will have on our situation within Chelsea FC, but on a less selfish note, one can hardly fail to note the decisiveness with which Roman Abramovich acts in the interests of expanding the club.

Shortly after the announcement, I heard from Spanish friends that Peter Kenyon had been a target of Real Madrid, if indeed there were any need for an endorsement of the professional status of the man and the esteem he enjoys worldwide in the top echelons of football. Over the coming weeks, as far as Paul Smith was concerned, and the coming months in the case of Mr Kenyon, I would find out what kind of rapport might develop between us, although it was not the kind of thing that ever worried me. As a manager I am not very accomplished – as my daughter Claudia good-naturedly reminds me sometimes – at political or diplomatic relations. I tend to be interested in substance, not very much in form. I am probably a little out of step with the times in this sense, but essentially I like my business to be on the pitch. I concern myself with the good of my team and doing my job well, and beyond that I look after my family and my own interests, without going after or taking particular care over special relationships that might help my career. I let the results speak for themselves. In this instance, given the fact that these are people chosen by Mr Abramovich, with whom I see eye to eye, and that their respective track records are sufficient guarantee in themselves, it is reasonable to suppose, at least as far as I am concerned, that there will be no problems with the relationship.

Wolves v Chelsea, Molineux, 20 September 2003

An easy game on paper, but experience tells me there is no bigger mistake anyone can make, especially here in England, than to take a result for granted. The determination and competitive spirit we see in the Premiership are not only ingredients that guarantee a great spectacle, but just as much a constant reminder to more technical teams like ours that they can never drop their guard. Wolves, for their part, are a team combining the experience of Dennis Irwin and Paul Ince with the dynamism of players like Shaun Newton and Henri Camara who are able to inject a change of pace. Despite a number of injury problems, the Norwegian forward Steffan Iversen is no slouch either, given the goals he has scored for Spurs and for his country. In the event, I decided to face them with a flat midfield, using two genuine wingers out wide – Gronkjaer and Duff – and a forward pairing of Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen.

In the end, the match turned out to be a comfortable win, and indeed the only real problem we had was before even arriving at the ground. A few miles after leaving the usual hotel on the outskirts of Birmingham where we always stay when playing in the area, we realized we had left Gallas behind. To be honest, it is quite easy to forget Willie; let’s just say that when he is on the bus, then you can be pretty sure everyone else will be on it too! At any rate we could not go on without him (not least because he was in my starting eleven), so we turned back. Everything turned out well in the end, as we won 5 – 0 after a fine team performance. It was a marvellous display of one- and two-touch football with depth, and the boys played as if attached by a fine thread one to another, so perfect was their movement. Towards the end, with the game more or less safe, we saw two goals from Hernan Crespo, his first in the Premiership, which made me especially pleased, both for him and for us. I know how important it is for a forward to find the net, and how even more important that is for a player coming in from a completely different environment. Not that a player like Crespo needs to score a brace against Wolves to prove his worth, but I can assure anyone that he too was extremely happy with his afternoon in the Midlands. This is a predatory striker, ready to exploit any error made by the opposition defence. He is already renowned the world over for this predatory style of his, but it is good that he should open his goal-scoring account in England too.

The only unpleasant aspect of the afternoon occurred in the post-match press conference. The first question directed at me was: ‘Mr. Ranieri, how come you didn’t use Wayne Bridge, an English player, in this match?’

What? We win 5 – 0 away from home, even if it is against a team having a bit of a difficult start to life in the Premiership, and the first thing they ask me is why I didn’t play Bridge? Is this a joke? I hope so, because otherwise I would have to think that someone is so biased as to find something negative to say even when there’s absolutely nothing to find. The result and the quality of our play would certainly not have suggested a controversial first question. And to make the observation that I left an Englishman out of the team, when surely my intention to build the Chelsea of the future with an English backbone has been both stated in words and proven by deeds, seems almost spiteful.

Happily there is always a positive side to everything, and I must say that not even that silly question could spoil an afternoon I will remember for a long time. For the win, certainly. And obviously the score. But this time the reader must allow me a little ‘moment’ of my own. To see the entire lower part of the stand opposite the dugout occupied by Chelsea supporters was wonderful, and a magnificent sight. A truly handsome splash of blue and white. And to hear the fans chant for me during the match was really quite touching. As my English is still improving, the things that supporters sing and shout in the stadium can sometimes be difficult to make out, but even I could not mistake the one declaring that this is Ranieri’s team and we don’t want Eriksson. I have nothing against Sven or any other fellow manager, and I want to keep my job only as long as I can produce the results that prove I still deserve to hold down the position of coach to a big club like Chelsea. I have never looked for help from the fans, or the players, or the press. Ingratiation is not my style, and I would rather give up coaching than start pandering for support. But to hear those words being chanted spontaneously did touch my feelings in a special way. I swear I did not know how to respond at that particular moment. Give a wave? A gesture of thanks? I hope no-one was offended, but staying concentrated on the game and simply doing nothing was my way of getting over a minute or two of embarrassment, though I was happy to have experienced it. I have continued to hear the chants ever since that afternoon and this has increased my sense of gratitude toward our fans – the ones who clearly appreciate what I am doing, and whom I hope to repay with big results. The results we all want. If I have never said thank you from the touchline, I do so now on these pages, because this is the way I know best.

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