Claudio Ranieri quits as AS Roma coach but sale of the Italian team to U.S. buyer stays on course
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The meltdown at AS Roma continues apace, with the Italian Serie A club faltering on all fronts but still the target of an American takeover.
Having given up a 1-0 lead in a European Champions League match at home against Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine last Tuesday before losing, 3-2, Roma imploded even more spectacularly on Sunday. Playing on the road against Genoa, Roma built a 3-0 advantage only to fall apart and lose, 4-3.
The result was predictable. Coach Claudio Ranieri (pictured at left) fell on his sword, handing in his resignation shortly after the latest debacle.
Ranieri, 59, stepped down only 17 months after being appointed Roma coach. It was the 10th club he has had charge of in a 24-year coaching career that has also seen him hold the reins at Napoli, Fiorentina, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Parma and Juventus.
Cesare Prandelli, Italy’s national team coach, said Ranieri had shown ‘responsibility and dignity’ by resigning. He also showed some forethought, jumping ship before being thrown overboard.
Angry AS Roma fans were clamoring for Ranieri’s head and about 200 of them set off smoke bombs outside the team’s training session on Saturday.
On Monday, AS Roma selected Vincenzo Montella, the youth team coach, to replace Ranieri for the rest of the season. Montella was an AS Roma forward the last time the team won the Italian championship, in 2001.
Meanwhile, talks continued between the Serie A club and a group of American investors headed by Thomas Di Benedetto, a partner in New England Sports Ventures, the company that last year bought the English Premier League team Liverpool.
--Grahame L. Jones