Claudio Ranieri expects his future to be clarified over Easter after steering Chelsea to the last four of the Champions League. The manager is set to meet Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon before the end of the holiday programme, the second such summit in a fortnight.
It is understood that Kenyon's previous intention to dismiss Ranieri from Stamford Bridge, regardless of any silverware the Italian might secure this season, has softened in the wake of Tuesday's defeat of Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final.
That is not, however, due to Ranieri's production of a last-four tie with Monaco; rather that Kenyon and Pini Zahavi, the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's football adviser, have been frustrated in their attempts to secure the services of Sven-Goran Eriksson. With the England manager off the agenda, suitable alternatives are thin on the ground.
Zahavi had persuaded Abramovich that the arrival of Kenyon would deliver Eriksson to Stamford Bridge.
Indeed, so sure was the Israeli deal-broker that Chelsea's overtures to Eriksson would prove fruitful that Kenyon embarked on the series of briefings to the press which prompted Ranieri to declare himself a "dead man walking".
That project faltered with the emergence of pictures showing Eriksson in discussions at Kenyon's west London apartment, which embarrassed the Swede, under pressure from the Football Association, into extending his England contract.
Once Kenyon's and Zahavi's plans had been undermined, they were left scrambling for blue-riband alternatives to Eriksson. Ottmar Hitzfeld, Arsène Wenger, Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi and Carlo Ancelotti were all considered.
However, Arsenal's Wenger and Ancelotti of Milan are considered unobtainable, Hitzfeld's stock has fallen after two indifferent seasons at Bayern Munich and Juventus's Lippi is hoping to step up to the managerial post of the Italy national team. Capello would be more readily available but, following a series of spats with his Roma chairman Franco Sensi, Kenyon is inclined to feel he would be difficult to work with.
Though maintaining a dignified silence throughout, Ranieri has grown exasperated by the constant speculation surrounding his position at Chelsea. Nonetheless, if he is given the opportunity, he is committed to seeing out his contract at Stamford Bridge. If he is not, he stands to pick up a £6m pay-off from Abramovich in consideration of the three years his contract has still to run.
A sustained campaign from Chelsea's fans, who again celebrated Tuesday's triumph with choruses of "One Ranieri", is sure to have been observed by the Russian. Though he insists Kenyon should be left to run the club, it is perhaps notable that, after racing to congratulate the dressing room on their Highbury win, he made a rare public statement of support yesterday.
Ranieri was swift to reiterate to Abramovich the import of his recent accomplishments. "For me it is a great achievement," said Ranieri during an interview with Sky Sports yesterday. "It is my first time in the Champions League and I am in the semi-final. It is a great achievement of my career. But I am used to thinking about the club, not Claudio Ranieri. I am one man inside a big club. The players are writing history in Chelsea. Never has Chelsea been in the semi-final and it is a great achievement."
