Most managers are resigned to getting the blame and Claudio Ranieri is unique in having a fight on his hands to prove that he is responsible for anything whatsoever that happens at his club.
The Chelsea coach was out to establish that he was not a misfit at the table where five new signings sat for yesterday's press conference. Ranieri has been regarded as a caretaker manager ever since Roman Abramovich took over the club last month.
As the Russian billionaire spent £60m to buy up almost all of the Chelsea shares and earmarked £90m to obliterate the debts, it seemed probable that he would stump up for a new manager. That outcome grew in plausibility when the England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson made an ill-advised visit to his London home.
"It was bad for him rather than for me," Ranieri declared. "I know that if I don't work well here, there will be a change and I will go out. That's my life. For me it was all like a joke."
Chelsea's eagerness to pursue the signing of Juan-Sebastian Veron from Manchester United was met with a knowing wink in many quarters, since Eriksson has twice bought the Argentinian in the past and has a great admiration of him. Ranieri therefore has to dismiss the suspicion that he is left clutching the Swede's shopping list.
Before Damien Duff, Geremi, Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson and Marco Ambrosio gave their interviews, the Chelsea coach was asked whether they were his choices. "Fortunately, yes," he said, showing the good grace to be droll about the situation, "and all the players know it. It's my team. It's within my power. It's my responsibility. Only mine.
"I was very calm. I know that everything can change when there is a new owner. My first question to him was, 'Do you want me or not?' "
The answer was satisfactory and Ranieri would prefer not to become bogged down in guesswork over the long-term plans of Abramovich. "I don't think, I work. I just do my best," he said. "If it's good, it's good. If not, 'It's been nice knowing you.' "
The most convincing evidence of Ranieri's impact on the Chelsea strategy came in a casual aside. It was persuasive because it was an afterthought rather than a strident assertion. "I tried to get Geremi for three years," he said of the Cameroon midfielder who cost £7m from Real Madrid.
Over his many seasons on the managerial circuit in Italy and Spain, Ranieri has become well-versed in the ways of capricious owners. He realises that, for the moment, he needs only to appreciate the opportunities provided by the Russian's wealth.
Ranieri has already been through a tumultuous experience. Duff, the £17m purchase from Blackburn Rovers, was whimsically and perhaps wisely introduced by a Chelsea official as the club's record signing "this week". Abramovich has spent £37m on players so far, but the splurge may be far from over.
There was speculation that he had fixed a budget of £50m for this year's dealings, but it is a billionaire's privilege to wreak havoc on his own budget. That sum would be required just to seize Roma's Emerson and Christian Vieri of Internazonale.
With Vieri, a virtually irresistible centre-forward, omitted from the Serie A club's party for this weekend's Amsterdam tournament, a deal may be in the offing. The Italian's absence was explained with the claim that the striker is tired. Vieri could have been gathering the strength he will need to pick up a Stamford Bridge pay packet.
Ranieri is committed to creating a group whose breadth will stand comparison with those at Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. "They have had a bigger squad than us for many years," he said, "and it's important to close that gap."
Despite Abramovich's affluence and Ranieri's shrewdness, there is no guarantee that everyone will comply with Chelsea's wishes. Duff was not a reluctant recruit, but he was certainly a pensive one who took a long, cool look at the proposed transfer.
He was in the departure lounge, preparing to fly to the United States with Blackburn Rovers, when word came through that Chelsea had met the £17m asking price. "The gaffer said we were 10 minutes from boarding, so I'd better make my mind up," Duff recalled Graeme Souness telling him.
The laid-back Irishman left the airport immediately but was not absolutely intent on landing at Chelsea. "I was very happy at Blackburn, where I was more or less guaranteed a place in the team" he explained. "I rang everyone I knew. It was the biggest decision of my life, so I took a week to make it."
In attempting to amass talent, Ranieri has to reach a swift understanding of the personalities he wishes to lure to Chelsea. Duff does not exude ruthless ambition, but his interest was piqued precisely by the lack of promises about a Stamford Bridge career. "I liked him as soon as I met him," the winger said of Ranieri. "He didn't guarantee that I would play, and he was right not to."
Much remains in doubt. The signings may well continue in the weeks ahead, but a semblance of an integrated team has to be created by the start of the Premiership. Abramovich's unchecked ambition has made life chaotic but Ranieri has also been presented with the summer of a lifetime.
