ROME — New Roma coach Claudio Ranieri said Friday the Giallorossi were one of only two clubs capable of persuading him to return to management.

The 73-year-old, who began his playing career with the capital team, took over from the dismissed Ivan Juric at crisis-hit Roma on Thursday. This is Ranieri’s third time coaching his hometown club, having been in charge from 2009 to 2011 and again in 2019.

“I had stopped coaching,” Ranieri said in his first press conference. “I have to say I’ve had more offers in the last few months than when I won the Premier League with Leicester. Unbelievable but it’s the truth. And I’ve always said no.

Ranieri helped Cagliari avoid relegation last season and had said it would be his last club job, but he could not turn down Roma.

“I told someone that there were only two cases in which I could return to coaching: for Roma or for Cagliari, if something went wrong there,” he said. he declared. “But I was super convinced that I had stopped, that I would watch football from a different place. But fate wanted me to come home.

“When I came back to Cagliari, I said that my story begins in Cagliari and will end in Cagliari. Obviously it’s destiny: I started in Rome as a player and I will finish as a director and coach.

Ranieri said he was called about the possibility on Monday and flew to London to meet with Roma’s American owners, Dan and Ryan Friedkin. There they decided that he would be the team’s third coach of the season and would move into a managerial position at the end of the campaign.

Juric, who replaced the popular Daniele De Rossi in September, was dismissed on Sunday after a 3-2 defeat at Bologna.

In total, Ranieri becomes Roma’s fourth manager this year, with De Rossi taking over from Jose Mourinho in January.

Supporters protested after the dismissal of former club captain De Rossi. And they have taunted the team in several matches this season, something Ranieri begged them not to do again.

“(The players) are giving it their all and we shouldn’t boo them,” he said. “Help me. We can’t boo anyone, do it at the end of the match. At the end of the match, I will come to the stands and you can boo me, but during the match, support us.

Fans certainly had a lot to laugh at during a season full of crisis. Roma have lost four of their last five Serie A matches and sit in 12th place, 13 points below league leaders Napoli and just four points above the relegation zone.

He has also won just one of his four Europa League matches.

“I don’t know (why Roma are in this situation), there are a thousand questions and honestly it doesn’t interest me because if I start talking about what happened yesterday I won’t understand anything,” Ranieri said.

“A new person has arrived, a new coach, with a clean slate and I have to do my best with these players. So I’m not interested in what happened before, I have to see what happens from today onwards. I am responsible for what happens from today on.

Ranieri, who led his first training session on Friday, will face a difficult start to life in Rome as he must quickly rebuild his players’ confidence ahead of a series of tricky matches.

He faces a tough debut at Naples in nine days’ time, followed by a home game against second-placed Atalanta the following weekend. Roma also play Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League in between.

“My first interview was with all my assistants, from the medical staff to the coaching staff, they all have to help me because I have to make as few mistakes as possible,” Ranieri said. “I don’t have time to make mistakes, we start now and straight away we have three matches, each one more beautiful than the last.

“I have to send the fans home saying ‘at least we gave it our all’ – if things go wrong – ‘we fought until the very last second.’ They should leave the stadium proud of their team. That’s what I promise the fans and myself.