Proud Man Walking

Betrayed by his club but beloved by the fans, former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri was a constant headline-maker in 2004. Occasionally puzzling, often eccentric, but always fascinating and refreshing, the Italian describes the highs and lows of an extraordinary season at Stamford Bridge – and the dramatic end to his English journey.‘Hello, my sharks. Welcome to the funeral.’‘People have said I am a dead man walking – but I am still moving!’‘Tonight I am a crazy man and Roman Abramovich is also going mad like me!’We rejoiced with him. We laughed with him. And we cried with him. In what turned out to be a year for the Blues resembling more a soap opera than a season of fo…