Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri: I’m back at the top level thanks to The Sunday Post!

SHOULD Ronny Deila ever find life at Celtic becoming a little too much for him, he could do worse than consider the fortunes of Claudio Ranieri.

Sacked by Greece a year ago this month on the back of an embarrassing defeat by the Faroe Islands then ranked 187th in the world the Tinkerman is riding high once again with Leicester City.

Using an exotic mix of motivational techniques, including everything from Kasabian songs to the promise of pizza, he has led the Foxes to the top six of the English Premier League.

That he has done so has been down to a can-do attitude that could just as easily have seen him in the home dug-out at Celtic Park had the Hoops’ Board lost patience with their Norwegian boss.

“I love my job, so I am always willing to consider offers,” said 63-year-old Ranieri.

“When I was free, I would have listened to offers from Scotland.

“If Celtic, for example, had called me in the summer, before Leicester, I would certainly have listened to what they had to say.”

Ranieri is equally happy to consider the notion raised again recently by Celtic’s majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond of Rangers and Celtic competing in the top flight south of Hadrian’s Wall.

“Personally, I think it would be a good thing because of the history and the passion these two great clubs would bring to the Premier,” the Italian insisted.

“We already have a Welsh team, Swansea City, involved so why should the competition not be open to Scotland as well?

“I am certain, too, that Celtic and Rangers would impress in England if they were to move south.

“It would take them a little while to get used to playing in a different league but they would get there.”

If the sales of Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama and Fraser Forster from Celtic to Southampton in recent years are anything to go by, that success would probably come through the recruitment of bigger, stronger players.

“I think over the years football has become more and more similar across the different countries,” Ranieri continued.

“But there is still some difference. In the Premier League, the football is very dynamic with an emphasis on the physical.

“So any Rangers or Celtic team coming in would have to match that.

“In Spain, there is a constant focus on possession. In Italy, the game is more tactical.

“But, for me, British football is the most exciting. There is nowhere I would rather be.”

That Ranieri is still working at all is testimony to his indefatigability.

In three decades in the game, he has been let go by top clubs in England, Spain, Italy and France.

And when the axe came in Greece, many wondered whether his time in coaching had come to an end.

Ranieri himself, though, remained bullish, insisting he was searching for the ‘next good project’.

In the end, the job was to find him with a little help from this newspaper.

The Roman’s revelation in The Sunday Post back in July that he was keen to manage in England or Scotland and specifically would be ready to listen should Leicester City want to talk to him was picked up by the East Midlands club.

“It definitely helped,” said Ranieri.

“Here’s how it happened. After we did that last interview, I was on holiday in Calabria. I didn’t know any of what was going on.

“One day my agent rang and said ‘Claudio, Leicester City have been in touch.

“‘They’ve read about you being interested in listening to an approach from them and you’re on a shortlist of three to become their new manager’.

“I then confirmed my availability, and things went forward from there.

“Two days later my agent rang back and said: ‘The Leicester president wants to meet you. We’re 90% there’.

“And here I am! So thank you, Sunday Post!

“I’m really happy to be with Leicester and coaching in the Premier League again.

“As I have always said from the time when I was at Chelsea, this is the most beautiful and exciting League in the world.

“The professionalism at my club, throughout the League indeed, is fantastic.

“Absolutely nothing is left to chance. And, of course, we are doing well at the moment, which is great.

“I can only be happy with the start we have made to the season, and the efforts of all our players.

“To be sitting so high in the League is amazing, but the main goal is to reach 40 points as soon as possible.

“I believe we can be sure of staying in the division until at least the end of next season.

“So that is the target. Once we have achieved it, then we will see what we can do.

“This time has proved to me what I learned about myself in Greece that I am a club, not an international, manager.

“I need to see the players on the training pitch every day.

“I tried to create a club spirit with Greece, but it was not possible. There was not the time to do it.

“The only exception I might make to that way of thinking would be for the Italian national team, if that chance ever came my way.”

Back on top and looking higher still, Ranieri is far from done tinkering.