Ranieri receives Chelsea backing

Claudio Ranieri has been given the full backing of Chelsea in his bid to rebuild the team at Stamford Bridge.

Reports yesterday that Gianluca Vialli is to be invited back have been dismissed from within the club.

"There is no a shred of truth in it," said a Chelsea source.

Chairman Ken Bates was said to be ready to perform a U-turn on the decision to oust Vialli early in the season but this has been discounted.

Vialli was the most successful Chelsea manager ever, winning five trophies in his two years in charge of the club. But it was decided that a change of direction was needed and Ranieri, the man who discovered Gianfranco Zola at Napoli and who also managed Fiorentina and Valencia, was appointed as Chelsea looked for a man with a proven record.

Managing director Colin Hutchinson reaffirmed recently that Ranieri's position is under no threat and that was also the sentiment at Chelsea today.

Bates was so upset with the suggestion of a return by Vialli that he intends to take legal advice. That follows Chelsea's decision last week to take legal action over a report that there had been a dressing room row at half-time during the FA Cup fifth round defeat at Arsenal.

Ranieri has been in the job at Chelsea for less than a season and has another three years left on his contract at Stamford Bridge.

The club are determined to let him finish the job he has started and there will be no knee-jerk reaction to a relative poor season which has included early exits in the UEFA Cup and Worthington Cups as well as the defeat at Arsenal in the FA Cup.

But Ranieri feels Chelsea can still qualify for European football through their league position and the cause was helped yesterday when Liverpool guaranteed UEFA Cup football at least at Anfield next season by beating Birmingham on penalities in the Worthington Cup final in Cardiff.