Perhaps we ought not to believe Claudio Ranieri when he tells us that this the last time. He announced his retirement from club management last May, delivering what seemed like a perfect storybook ending, saving Cagliari from relegation. The club where he made his name three decades earlier, raising them from Serie C to the top-flight. An island, Sardinia, where the locals think him as one of their own.
Yet Ranieri’s first love has always been the city he grew up in and the team he supported, Roma. He had managed them twice before, but when they called for a third time in November he found himself unable to say no. The club was a mess, having already fired Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Juric 12 games into this Serie A season. They had won only three of those.
