Читать книгу Proud Man Walking - Claudio Ranieri - Страница 13

The calendar had us making our Champions League debut not only in a wonderful city, Prague, but also against a particularly well-balanced team, Sparta. The first surprise I had on the trip was when I walked into my hotel room. They had given me an incredible suite. I had never seen anything like it before in my career, and probably never will again. It had four en suite bathrooms and even a billiards table! I doubted whether I’d even have time to explore it all in the two days we were there, but it was so big we could have trained in there with the entire team.

Playing in the Champions League is not exactly the same as playing in international competitions, however good these may be. It was for this reason I decided to leave Duff and Lampard on the bench initially. I wanted to avoid loading them with too much responsibility, and instead chose a starting line-up with players who already had this kind of international experience. It was a decision I had no regrets about, regardless of the way the match turned out, though I was persuaded by what happened on the field to put both players on at the beginning of the second half. We started with a diamond midfield: Makelele in his usual position, Petit on the left, Geremi on the right and Veron behind the two strikers. Sparta were looking almost exclusively to defend, and we had to try and open up the game and create chances for ourselves. As it transpired we created many in the first half, but Mutu and Crespo – whom I had selected precisely on the basis of their previous experience – were unable to capitalize. With the introduction of Damien and Frank I changed the entire formation completely, pulling the diamond back into a line across midfield and bringing Veron deeper behind Crespo to give him more space. In the end we deserved to win with a goal by Gallas and it was an important strike, because getting off on the right foot is crucial in this type of competition, especially away from home. Scoring goals is not such a rare occurrence for Willie, and in fact he had won a bet the year before among the French members of the team (Petit and Desailly being the others) as to which one of them would score the most goals by the end of the season. He is good in attack because he is always ready to exploit even the slightest advantage in dead-ball situations. It was very nice to start off our Champions League campaign with a victory, and I like these wins that come late in the game. Wins secured with a struggle are the best. They show the team is battling right to the end to get the result it wants. And it was nice to share the success with the more than 1,200 Chelsea fans who made the trip to the Czech Republic. Addressing the post-match press conference, I quipped, ‘Well, I’m still in my job, contrary to what some people in the press are predicting. Maybe I should sack myself and do them a favour.’ Controversial statements are generally not my style and the delivery was light-hearted, not least because I genuinely had no reason to doubt the soundness of my relationship with the new management. On the other hand, with all the dreary negative comments that contrasted with the results, I had felt obliged to make a point in some way.

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.