Claudio Ranieri has received letters of support from fans of rival clubs who do not believe he deserves to be sacked by Chelsea at the end of the season.
The Italian revealed yesterday that Manchester United and Newcastle followers were among those who had offered their backing. That added to the staunch support the head coach has had from many Chelsea fans, who have made clear during recent games at Stamford Bridge that they would like him to continue.
"I want to say thank you to everybody from Manchester, Newcastle," Ranieri said. "Unbelievable." Asked if he had had many supportive letters from fans of other clubs he replied: "Yes. I can say only thank you very much. They have given me a lot of strength. It's a pleasure because it means you are working the right way and that is important for me."
Further recognition of his efforts came yesterday when he was named Barclaycard manager of the month for March, in which his team won all three Premiership games and progressed to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Although Chelsea lie second in the league and are still in Europe, the club's chief executive Peter Kenyon has been searching for a successor for next season. Kenyon has stated that a season without a trophy would constitute failure, and Ranieri, typically, laughed off a reminder of that.
He joked that his latest award as manager of the month means he has already captured the treble. "I have won three trophies this year," he said. "The Malaysia Cup [in the pre-season], and manager of the month in September and now."
It has been revealed that Kenyon held talks with Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has since committed his future to England, but Ranieri insisted his relationship with Eriksson had not been affected.
"Always it's the same, a good relationship," he said, before discussing his view of the courtship between Eriksson and Chelsea, which both parties had hoped to keep secret. "It's the football world, it's normal," he said. "What for you English people could be strange, for me - an Italian manager - nothing is strange."
He knows the clearing up of Eriksson's future does not mean the constant stories about his future will stop. "Maybe finished with Eriksson and start with another," he said with a smile. He was summoned to a meeting with Kenyon and the club owner Roman Abramovich over recent days but declined to discuss its contents. "It was a lovely meeting," he said.
Ranieri prefers to talk about on-pitch matters. Yesterday morning he reminded his players of the need to fight for every point in the remaining eight Premiership matches, starting against Tottenham today. He knows it is crunch time. "In Spain they say it's five o'clock in the evening, when the toreador goes to the arena," he said.
Juan Sebastián Verón has returned to training after a long absence because of injury and Ranieri hopes to have the Argentina midfielder available after the Easter fixtures.
