Roma has 2 coaches in charge with Ranieri advising Gasperini
ROME (AP) — Claudio Ranieri turned down Italy to stay at Roma. Gian Piero Gasperini chose the capital club over Juventus and left Atalanta after transforming the Bergamo team into a top contender in Italy and Europe.
The two white-haired coaches sat side by side on the stage during Gasperini's presentation as Roma's new coach on Tuesday.
The 73-year-old Ranieri is moving into an advisory role after coaching Roma out of a crisis. The 67-year-old Gasperini is looking to crown his career by making an impact in one of Italy's biggest markets for the first time.
Gasperini acknowledged that he was approached by Juventus — his hometown club and the team that he spent his youth career with as a player.
'Yes. But I had a feeling that this was the right path, despite all the risks I keep being reminded about,' Gasperini said, alluding to the pressures of coaching a perennially underperforming club in the country's biggest city. 'Considering my style of soccer, I feel I can make an impact. It's an ideal situation. It's what I'm looking for right now. I strongly believe that I made the right choice.'
The only other time Gasperini coached a big Italian club came in 2011 when he lasted just five winless matches at Inter Milan.
But Ranieri said that Gasperini, who signed a three-year contract, could turn to him for help whenever trouble arises.
'My relationship will be like that of a friend,' Ranieri said. 'If he needs something, I will try to resolve it. That's my job now.'
Gasperini is Roma's fourth coach in the 1 1/2 years since Jose Mourinho was fired, following Daniele De Rossi, Ivan Juric and Ranieri.
Roma is Ranieri's priority
Ranieri was hired in November when Roma was struggling in 12th place. He guided the team to a fifth-place finish as the Giallorossi lost just once during the second half of the season.
Then when Italy coach Luciano Spalletti was fired less than 10 days ago amid the prospect that the four-time champion could fail to qualify for the World Cup for a third straight time, the Italian soccer federation asked Ranieri to take over.
Ranieri said no to the Italy job.
'I respect Italy but I'm with Roma,' the Roman-born Ranieri said when asked to explain what exactly happened.
Gennaro Gattuso was hired to coach Italy instead.
Gasperini's teams pile up goals
Gasperini's Atalanta teams have been among the highest-scoring squads in Italy for years and strikers like Diego Milito (at Genoa), Duvan Zapata, Gianluca Scamacca and Mateo Retegui have all had explosive seasons under the manager.
Does that mean that Roma strikers Artem Dovbyk and Tammy Abraham are set for career-defining campaigns?
'My teams have always scored a lot of goals,' Gasperini said. 'That's my style and I certainly want to try that again here with Roma.'
Roma's prized but often injured playmaker Paulo Dybala once played under Gasperini at Palermo.
'I hope I don't change anything with Dybala, as good as he is,' Gasperini said. 'I just hope that he stays in good health and in good condition.'
Gasperini's advice for Italian soccer
Gasperini said it was disappointing for Italian soccer that the only European trophies won by Serie A clubs in the last 15 years were the Europa League trophy that he guided Atalanta to last year and the Conference League for Roma in 2022.
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The last Italian team to win the Champions League was Inter Milan in 2010. The Nerazzurri were embarrassingly beaten 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in last month's final.
'You need to play with a fast pace, because when you go abroad they play fast,' Gasperini said. 'Maybe we need to start looking at things a little differently. Because that's what works and that's the path we need to follow.'
Roma will play in the Europa League next season.
___
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Stewart Johnston leaves a strong first impression. Article content More than anything else, it's evident his fervor for football is genuine. Article content Article content In a life on a circular path, the Toronto-born 54-year-old who grew up in the nation's capital again lives in his hometown and, after a 28-year career at The Sports Network — more than half of which as company president and senior vice-president of Bell Media, content and sales — Johnston has returned to his first love. Article content Article content The following is an edited version of a 40-minute conversation Postmedia had with the Canadian Football League's 15th commissioner at a downtown Ottawa hotel on the morning of the Redblacks home opener. Article content Article content 'I think it starts with a passion for football. I've had that ever since I was a kid. I grew up throwing the football with my brothers in the backyard, and took that to playing some high school football, loving every second, but consuming a ton of football on television. And so I really have that. 'I joined TSN because I'm a sports fan in general, but football's always been the number one for me. Article content 'At Bell Media, I had an amazing job. I occasionally thought to myself, 'do I have the coolest media job in the world?' I worked with the biggest media company in Canada. I'm leading the sports division. I'm leading the news division. I'm leading the entertainment division, driving content for Crave. I'm leading the ad sales division, driving significant revenue across multiple platforms. I loved coming to visit the sales team and the operational team here in Ottawa. It was really diverse, really widespread, and I had 3500 people reporting to me as a team, all fantastic at what they do, and just as passionate about the industry as I was. Article content Article content 'And so for anything to pull me away from that, it would have to be pretty special. Article content 'When this opportunity came up, (former commissioner) Randy (Ambrosie) announced his retirement in the fall of last year, and this opportunity came up, I thought briefly about it, but I was so consumed with my job that I didn't focus too much on what was happening. I just had a lot going on and wanted to make sure things were going as well as they could at my shop. Article content 'And then, into the new year, I had some people related to the league reach out and ask if I'd be interested in throwing my hat in the ring. That's when I took a moment to think about that. I said, I've been 28 years with one company in diverse roles and I learned every day, which is critical for me. So the idea of leaving after 28 years was daunting and really not something I'd consider because I was enjoying what I was doing.
