The alarm bells are ringing across English football as the parlous state of the game's finances becomes ever clearer. But while Claudio Ranieri may be faced with the prospect of having to sell his star striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to balance the books, the Chelsea manager claims things are even worse elsewhere.
"In England, the crisis is all still about the flop of the television system," Ranieri said today. "The TV stations failed to earn what they thought they could so the clubs suddenly discovered that they have less money in their pockets.
"However, in Italy, my feeling is that it is even worse. Some clubs have spent the money they are due to be earning in something like 2010!"
"I came to London two years ago and already I have renewed my contract for another five years," he said in an interview with the London Evening Standard conducted from Chelsea's Italian pre-season training camp in Roccabruna.
"At first in England nobody really seemed to believe in me and my work and that was a big change from my time in Italy."
"There are so many games in England but without any stress compared to Italy. Here in my country 90 minutes is all it takes to transform you from phenomena to dull.
"If you lose a game in Italy everyone is about to tell you to go, but if you win the next one you have the world in your hands again and that is not good at all."
"Look, I am still a gypsy of this job and sooner or later I will come back (to Italy) to put my career at risk in only one 90 minute game of football."
"After managing Cagliari, Napoli and Fiorentina I found it very easy to work in Spain and in England.
"Sometimes the Italian football mentality is at fault because it works to destroy fantasy but if you survive working in Serie A you are ready for any experience anywhere in the world.
"Now everything in England is much easier for someone like me because, I think, Gianluca Vialli opened up new horizons.
"He persuaded English clubs and English fans with his work and success. After Vialli, I think the reputation of the Italian manager grew.
"In fact that is one more reason why Sven-Goran Eriksson was chosen as England manager.
"He got success in Serie A and people know a bit more about how stressful it is there. For example, everyone in Italy keeps on moaning that there are too many games but I've just been given Chelsea's programmeof games. We start on 17 August and there will be many weeks when we play on Saturday and Monday."
That said, Ranieri is happy where he is for now. Italy is alright for a training camp, but he believes Italian football needs to wake up to itself.
"In Italy we always used to go around the world telling how we were the best, the smartest, the most prepared and the toughest defensive country in football.
"Then in this World Cup we suddenly discovered that our defence gives away goals, that our rivals work harder than us on the pitch and that somebody else was much smarter than us from a political point of view.
"I get the strong sensation that it is time for Italy to restart everything from scratch."
