After a turbulent time at Atletico Madrid, Ranieri again crossed the sea in 2000 to join his most difficult project, Chelsea, where he reunited with the mercurial Gianfranco Zola. Language barrier, uncertainty amongst the fans regarding the direction the club was heading for, a financial crisis followed by pressure from a billionaire owner ready to buy success - it was tough. Coming to Great Britain certainly expanded the horizons of a cultural man like Ranieri. Chelsea went on to improve their point tally season after season under Ranieri, improved their appearance from UEFA Cup to UEFA Champions league and finished as high as second - behind the Invincible Arsenal only - in 2003-04, his last season. At the Bridge, Ranieri influenced another fairy tale when Chelsea defeated Liverpool 2-1 coming from behind, on the final day of the 2002-03 season to qualify for the Champions League. It is claimed that this win and the qualification for Champions League had allured oil oligarch Roman Abramovich for investing in the London club, which changed the club's fortune. Thus, the winner from Jesper Gronkjaer could be dubbed as the most important goal scored in Chelsea history, and Claudio Ranieri as the most important manager. However, Ranieri's position was weakened by the 2003-04 Champions League semi-final loss to 10-man AS Monaco due to few bizarre tactical faults. Ranieri moved Hernan Crespo to the right midfield and instructed Juan Sebastian Veron to play an unusual advanced role, which eventually cost him the game and also his tenure at Stamford Bridge.

The Tinkerman knew it was coming. Just before Chelsea's Champions League second leg semi-final against AS Monaco, he greeted the press by saying "Hello my sharks, welcome to the funeral". Eventually Chelsea held to a 2-2 draw in that must win encounter and that marked end of the Ranieri era at Chelsea.

Chelsea started a dream run of success the following season under Jose Mourinho, winning back-to-back league titles and many more accolades in the coming years. However, the spine of the team - John Terry, William Gallas, Wayne Bridge, Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard - were all bought or were nurtured by the man from Rome. Ranieri also signed Petr Cech in 2004 but when he arrived at Stamford Bridge the Tinkerman was already axed by Roman Abramovich. He also earmarked Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba for Chelsea, who would later join the London club and take them to greater heights.

This phase was a memorable yet stressful one for Ranieri. Later he published a book on his last year at Chelsea titled Proud Man Walking, the proceeds of which went to the local Great Ormond Street Hospital. He joined Valencia where fans welcomed him with open arms. But hangover from his previous job, squad spat between local players and his new signings from Italy, and criticism for his constant changing of the side reminiscent of his Chelsea days led to his premature sacking. In came Parma, fighting a relegation battle. The man gleefully accepted the challenge and showed his mojo by finishing at a respectable mid-table position.

After the ill-fated misadventure with Greece, Ranieri took charge of Leicester City, the smallest club he had been with since three decades after Cagliari. However, it was not a red carpet welcome. The departing boss Nigel Pearson had won two promotions with the club to the top tier of English football and was fresh from a heroic escape in 2014-15 season to stay afloat in the Premier League. Naturally, replacing such a fan favourite was not an easy task. But the man from Rome won everyone over with his dignified demeanour and performances on the field.

It has been a memorable season. We all know what happened on the pitch - the David defeating the Goliath. But it all started off the field. Ranieri's flexibility and adaptability with changing times have been his keys to success. When called for and given the license, he had gone with complete squad overhaul at Chelsea and Monaco. But the ground realities at Leicester restricted him to make smaller adjustments, some fine tunes at max with the small squad at his disposal. He worked with almost the same team he inherited from and even made only two changes in the coaches' department, retaining his predecessor's backroom staff. His candidness and acceptance to others fortified his own work and helped incite team spirit.

Be it inspiring the team with local rock band Kasabian or taking them out for pizza and champagne party, Ranieri's effort to bind the team together was there to be seen. "Kasabian are a fantastic rock band from Leicester and I think the guitar man, Serge, is Italian," the manager added. "It's good and I think they [the fans] love fighters. We are fighters."

His assurance to each individual player was also a key attribute to the Fox's dream run. Riyad Mahrez, the PFA player of the year 2015-16 winner recalls those words from his manager: "I would never change your game". He has kept his word, he has not compromised with the Algerian's flair, but he has definitely improved the playmaker's defensive judgment. Or take the example of almost fictional rise of Jamie Vardy who was playing non-league football roughly five years ago and now instrumental behind Ranieri's success this season.

"Batistuta scored 11 goals in a row for me at Fiorentina," recalled Leicester's manager. "It's amazing we're mentioning Jamie in same breath as Batistuta". Not only that, he compared Vardy's wonder strike against Liverpool to the historical goal by Marco van Basten in 1988 European Championship final against Soviet Union.

Ranieri is an honest man and he does not feel uncomfortable admitting his own mistakes. Instead he keeps the lessons learnt from his failures close to his heart. This is not a small virtue. Ranieri admitted to his fault for the defeat against Monaco in the Champions League semi-final of 2003-04. Having disturbed by the rumours of him being replaced at the end of the season, the old man wanted to prove that he belongs to the big league and his subsequent all-out approach cost Chelsea the match. So, this time Ranieri did not pressurize his players thinking too far ahead during their incredible run in. After having worked incredibly well with the board to retain all of his players amidst the attention of bigger clubs during the winter transfer window, that was probably his biggest task in this season. The nearly man raised a toast after mathematically ensuring the Champions League spot, while everyone was going gaga over their surge towards the title. With his poise, and self-imposed title of Thinkerman, he set out a loveable war cry only when the title was in touching distance.

Claudio Ranieri is a modest individual. His razor sharp and wicked sense of humour will allure you. He never lost connection with the roots, with the people, with his players. He grew up in a working-class district of San Saba on the banks of the Tiber, where his parents - Mario and Renata - ran a butcher's shop. Few of the old Roma fans would still remember how Claudio himself would deliver cuts of meat by bike when he was a teenager. In Florence, Ranieri had chosen an apartment in heart of old town, closer to people rather than affording a mansion in the hills. During his tenure at Chelsea, he lived in Fulham, away from the cityscape with his wife Rosanna. She was often accompanied by Claudio on scouting missions in Old England for her antique shop in Rome.

Throughout his career the old man was labelled as a fixer and never a finisher. Being a fixer - a person who would set things right at a club and lay the foundations for moving forward - is not a bad thing at all. Through several promotions and run-in towards the title in top tiers of European leagues Ranieri has more than proved his mettle. And he has done that with different clubs, in different countries in more than one occasion. This consistency in different circumstances where each challenge came with its own set of constraints and expectations is not a mean feat. He has been flexible, not hesitant in tweaking his initial ideas, adapting to players, culture and styles. He has always been intelligent enough to share a good rapport with his players but at the same time maintain a strict discipline in the group. Also, he understood the demands of modern day man management. That is why even after being very organized and clear in his ideas, he has always respected dressing-room hierarchies. He realized that players craved for a father-figure manager who could be close to them, but who would also challenge them to push the envelope, and he did that. He got the balance just right, every time. And that is why he has delivered time and again through ages.

The eternal journeyman of football had definitely installed his wisdom and motivation inside the Foxes philosophy. "Why can't we continue to run, run, run? We are like Forrest Gump. Leicester is Forrest Gump." But that ultimate glory - the league title won through the grinds of a long season where nothing but consistency count at the end - always eluded him. Well, not anymore. And what better stage to do that than with Leicester City, and not with the so-called giants of Europe!

Thank you Claudio! Thank you for being the unbelievable man you are!! Thank you for this amazing Cinderella story!!!