Ranieri appointed Juventus coach

shortfuse0_1 · #1 (**permalink**) 4th June 2007, 06:53 PM

Claudio Ranieri has become the new coach of Juventus, dashing Manchester City's hopes of landing the Italian.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is trying to buy City, wanted Ranieri as manager.

But Juve thwarted him by appointing the 55-year-old to replace Didier Deschamps, who resigned last week.

The Italian giants have given Ranieri a three-year contract and described him as "a man of international experience and vision" in a statement.

It added: "For Juventus, this is an authoritative choice fully in line with the company's objectives and tradition."

I'd loved to have seen him back in the Premiership but good luck to him at Juventus

Juve were demoted last summer and began the season on minus nine points after being found guilty of match-fixing, but won promotion under Deschamps.

Deschamps, who won the Champions League with Juventus as a player in 1996, took charge of the Turin side last summer following their demotion to Serie B.

Ranieri was in charge of Chelsea between September 2000 and May 2004, before being replaced by Jose Mourinho.

As well as Juventus and Parma, Ranieri has also coached Italian clubs Cagliari, Napoli and Fiorentina.

He also had two spells with Spanish side Valencia as well as coaching Atletico Madrid.

Former Juve coach Marcello Lippi had reportedly been the front-runner to succeed Deschamps, but the Italian World Cup winning-coach opted to remain in retirement.