Premier League winner to end ‘Oscar-winning story’ as Cagliari manager, could retire

Former Premier League winner Claudio Ranieri has introduced he’s “reluctantly” stepping down as Cagliari supervisor on the finish of the season in a transfer which might finish the 72-year-old’s five-decade teaching profession.

Having confirmed Cagliari’s Serie A security with a 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Sunday, Italian Ranieri will lead the membership for the ultimate time of their closing match of the marketing campaign at dwelling to Fiorentina on Thursday.

“You might have been my refuge for years,” Ranieri stated of the membership the place he first took cost as a 37-year-old in 1988, guiding Cagliari from the third division to the highest flight.

“I’m leaving reluctantly however it’s proper to take action now. It was a tough and painful determination. I hope I’ve represented Sardinia at its greatest. I’m leaving after a promotion and salvation. I favor to depart like this; I don’t wish to tarnish these years.”

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After leaving Watford in 2022, Ranieri returned to Cagliari firstly of 2023 and steered them again to Serie A through the play-offs final season.

“In his two spells with the membership, he all the time managed to guide the crew to attain their authentic goal,” stated a membership assertion. “Already the mastermind behind two successive promotions up to now and survival within the prime flight, within the final year-and-a-half he has put collectively yet one more masterpiece.

L’hai fatto ancora, Mister 🥹👑 pic.twitter.com/L9NeSS1uy2

— Cagliari Calcio (@CagliariCalcio) May 19, 2024

“It’s the closure of a full circle. Staying up in Serie A, precisely prefer it was 31 years in the past, once more in Emilia-Romagna, one recreation earlier than the top of the season.

“It’s like we’ve been watching a film – an Oscar-winning one, one which wins you over with its excellent screenplay. A type of that makes you giggle but in addition strikes you and makes you’re feeling emotional.

“These are tears of pleasure and gratitude for the person who was in a position to write a number of the most stunning scripts in Cagliari’s historical past. What he did will stay indelible within the hearts of each supporter.”

Claudio Ranieri document

Ranieri oversaw one of many best achievements in sporting historical past in 2016 when his Leicester Metropolis aspect received the Premier League in an enormous underdog triumph which odds compilers had thought-about all however not possible.

The previous defender spent the primary 11 years of his teaching profession in his homeland – together with a spell with Fiorentina – earlier than becoming a member of Atletico Madrid and spending 4 years at Chelsea from 2000.

His subsequent golf equipment included Juventus, Roma, Inter Milan, Fulham and Sampdoria, in addition to a quick reign as Greece supervisor.

“I’ve determined that Cagliari would be the final crew I’ll coach,” Ranieri instructed Calcio Mercato in 2023. “I might solely make an exception for an intriguing worldwide job, and I want to level out that I’m not making use of for the Azzurri [Italy] bench.

“Sure, I’ll cease in Cagliari, however I don’t know when. Perhaps I’ll final 20 years. Jokes apart, that is the correct place to cease, I really feel like I’m lastly closing a circle.

“My profession started right here, as a result of when Cagliari appointed me – a younger participant with no expertise, 35 years in the past – it was the wager of my life. I might have burned myself; on the time, I didn’t even know if I might be a coach.

“We began with the concept of ​​making an attempt to return to Serie B inside a few years, however in these two years we went from C to A. Since then, I’ve had Cagliari inside me.”