Ranieri pick proves Roma have no plan for the future | OneFootball

The imminent return of Claudio Ranieri to the Roma bench has once and for all confirmed the club has no plan, writes Susy Campanale.

So much was expected of the Friedkin family when they took over at the Stadio Olimpico, who did seem to take the right approach within the very limited Financial Fair Play parameters they had been given after decades of mismanagement. However, the last 10 months have made it obvious that if there had been a course plotted out, the rudder has broken off and they are now randomly going round in circles while the boat takes on water.

You could say it all went wrong with Jose Mourinho’s sacking in January, but I would argue he had spotted the basic issue long before that, he just went a typically pig-headed way about calling it out. Mou complained that he was the only ‘voice’ of the club in the media and therefore had to do far more than simply the job of coach. During the brief Daniele De Rossi era, and above all since his dismissal, it has become evident that nobody really knows who is in charge at Roma or what their ideas are.

This kind of hiding in the shadows is more common in the Premier League from club owners, but in Italy we have several newspapers, radio and television stations entirely dedicated to football, often specifically to one single team. They need to fill all that space with something and when you have four coaches in a calendar year, there is nobody who can represent stability.

Nobody represents Roma vision

ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND – OCTOBER 02: CEO of The Friedkin Group, Dan Freidkin interacts with his son, Ryan Freidkin, Co-Founder of Imperative Entertainment during a practice round prior to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 at the Old Course at St Andrews on October 02, 2024 in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

The last week has been a case in point. Dan and Ryan Friedkin have never spoken to the Italian media. Their CEO Lina Souloukou resigned after De Rossi was sacked in September, not that she particularly gave interviews either. Current Roma director Florent Ghisolfi has tried to give a couple of on-camera interviews, but only speaks French. The one thing he assured after the Ivan Juric dismissal was that they were looking for a ‘long-term project’ – so naturally they coax a 73-year-old out of retirement as caretaker to the end of the season. This is the level of consistent messaging we are dealing with here.

If you saw our reporting on the list of potential Roma coaches to take over from Juric and thought they all had absolutely nothing in common, then you are in the same boat as we are. This scattergun approach to seeking tacticians proves there is no plan here, not just no idea of how they are getting to the objective, but simply no clue what the target is even supposed to be. This is beyond ‘concepts of a plan,’ we don’t even get those. It’s more than confusing – it’s confused.

When Inter were run by Suning, one always had the impression it was really Beppe Marotta pulling the strings and giving that sense of stability. This is why they were able to switch to Oaktree without anyone noticing a difference. Roma do not have anyone close to that mould and Milan are frankly lacking too, but not to the same degree.

Ranieri represents a safe pair of hands who can calm the fans and players down, but it’s just kicking that can down the road. Until Roma have someone who can take charge and responsibility, truly representing and outlining the vision behind the club’s future, they will always be lost at sea.