Ranieri says goodbye to Sampdoria and the fans

Claudio Ranieri has announced he will be leaving Sampdoria at the end of the season, after a year and a half in charge of the team.

Speaking ahead of the final league match against Parma, the coach revealed: “I informed the team this morning that I won’t be staying on next year but I want to thank everyone.

“The players have been superb, especially last year during the lockdown when they did a brilliant job training individually and we saw the results as we stayed up.

“We’ve had a good season this year. We’ve fought and scrapped and had some excellent performances, as well as a few poor ones, although that’s normal in football. I want to thank my players from the bottom of my heart.”

Ranieri also wished to honour the Sampdoria heroes who won the Scudetto in 1991, before ending with a word on the Blucerchiati faithful.

“I would like to pay tribute to the Italian champions of 30 years ago. That was a fantastic team, guided by Vujadin Boskov and above all president Paolo Mantovani, who made the Doria fans’ dream come true.

“Lastly, I want to thank the fans. It was really sad not having them at the stadium to see Sampdoria fighting for every ball, against all opponents. I hope they’ve liked having me as coach of Sampdoria.”