Claudio Ranieri says Roma was one of only 2 clubs that could persuade him to return to coaching

ROME (AP) — New Roma coach Claudio Ranieri said on Friday that the Giallorossi were one of only two clubs that could persuade him to return to management.

The 73-year-old, who began his playing career with the capital team, took over from the fired Ivan Juric at crisis-hit Roma on Thursday. It’s the third time Ranieri will coach his hometown club, having previously been in charge from 2009-11 and again in 2019.

“I had stopped coaching,” Ranieri said in his first press conference back. “I have to say I have had more offers these past few months than when I won the Premier League with Leicester. Incredible but that’s the truth. And I always said no.”

Ranieri helped Cagliari avoid relegation last season and had said that would be his final club job but he couldn’t turn down Roma.

“I told someone that there were only two cases in which I could return to coaching: for Roma or for Cagliari, if something happened to go wrong there,” he said. “But I was super convinced that I had stopped, that I would watch soccer from a different place. But fate wanted it that I came back home.

“When I returned to Cagliari I said that my story started at Cagliari and would finish at Cagliari. Evidently it’s fate — I started at Roma as a player and I will finish as a director and coach.”

Ranieri said he was called about the possibility on Monday and flew to London to meet Roma’s American owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin. There they decided that he would be the team’s third coach of the season and will make the step up to an executive role at the end of the campaign.

Juric, who replaced the popular Daniele De Rossi in September, was fired on Sunday after a 3-2 loss at Bologna.

Overall, Ranieri becomes Roma’s fourth coach this year, with De Rossi having taken over for Jose Mourinho in January.

Fans protested after De Rossi, a former club captain, was fired. And they have jeered the team during several matches this season, something Ranieri has pleaded with them not to do anymore.

“(The players) give their all and we shouldn’t boo them,” he said. “Help me. We can’t boo anyone, do it at the end of the match. At the end of the match I’ll come in front of the stands and you can boo me, but during the match support us.”

The fans have certainly had a lot to jeer in a crisis-filled season. Roma has lost four of its past five Serie A matches and sits in 12th place, 13 points below league leader Napoli and just four points above the relegation zone.

It has also won just one of its four Europa League matches.

“I don’t know (why Roma is in this situation), there are a thousand questions and honestly I’m not interested because if I start talking about what happened yesterday, I will not figure anything out,” Ranieri said.

“A new person has come in, a new coach, given a clean slate and I have to do my utmost with these players. So I’m not interested in what happened before, I have to see what happens from today. I’m responsible for what happens from today onwards.”

Ranieri, who took charge of his first training session on Friday, will have a tough start to life back at Roma as he will swiftly have to rebuild his players’ confidence ahead of a tricky series of matches.

He faces a difficult debut at Napoli in nine days followed by a home match against second-place Atalanta the following weekend. Roma also plays away at Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League inbetween.

“My first talk was with all my assistants, from the medical staff to the coaching staff, they all have to help me because I have to make as few mistakes as possible,” Ranieri said. “I don’t have time to make mistakes, we’re starting now and immediately we have three games, each one more beautiful than the last.

“I have to send the fans home saying ‘at least we gave everything’ — if things happen to go badly — ‘we fought right to the very last second.’ They should leave the stadium proud of the team. That is what I promise to the fans and to myself.”

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