"Proud Man Walking" by Claudio Ranieri is not a career autobiography. Instead it is narrower being an account of just his final season in charge at Chelsea - 2003/04.
The 2003/04 season was a momentous one for Chelsea. It was the season that Roman Abramovich became the owner. And this is where the book starts, in May 2003, with Chelsea losing Zola simply because the club hasn't got any money to re-sign him. Then days later they have millions of pounds available to them to buy the likes of Makelele, Veron and Crespo.
The rest of the book then goes through the season game by game as Ranieri explains his formation and personnel choices each match whilst giving brief match commentaries. These would be of interest to Chelsea fans, but not so interesting to non-Chelsea fans like me. What was interesting were the bits in between where you got to see little glimpses behind-the-scenes, like Abramovich inviting the players and management onto his yacht, or John Terry spontaneously giving Ranieri a framed shirt of his.
As for the title of the book it is a take on the English phrase, "dead man walking". This is because during the season there were rumours abundant in the press over who was to replace Ranieri come the season end. However it's not until the end of the season, April/May time, that Ranieri seems to feel threatened by them. He even admits that he "had let himself be affected by anger over the meeting between the club and Mourinho's agent" such that it, in his opinion, affected the result of a game. Meanwhile the "proud" part of the title comes from his feelings towards his time at the club.
Overall then the book is okay and would suit Chelsea fans best. There is nothing controversial in here. If there were less commentary on matches and substitutions, and more controversy it could be better for non-Chelsea fans too.
Publication date: 8 Oct 2004
Available on Amazon UK: Proud Man Walking
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