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This was a tactical plan devised by Nigel Pearson, and Leicester still play like a team built by a man who once fought off a pack of wild dogs in the Carpathian mountains by hiding in a bush and blinding them, eye by eye, with his walking stick. But if the foundations and the ethic were laid by Pearson, it feels like Ranieri has given this team their ability to dream.Ranieri is a strange and rightly cherished man, one who seems to operate somewhere between Kermit the frog, Jep Gambardella and an eccentric nan. Again, football returns to its stories for crucial context: the season has been enriched by tales of how Ranieri has been adopted by this part of the East Midlands, of the saunters he takes around the city, the patience with which he poses for photos, befriends market workers, eats his dinner in the restaurants; dilly-ding, dilly-dong.Now he has assured that he will long be revered not just as a nice man, but also as a fantastic manager. No words you could utter to Ranieri today will be as satisfying as the poisonous riposte sent his way by Jose Mourinho as his Inter side were beating Ranieri's Juventus to the Serie A title back in 2008: "Ranieri? I guess he's right with what he said I am very demanding of myself and I have to win to be sure of things. This is why I have won so many trophies in my career. Ranieri, on the other hand, has the mentality of someone who doesn't need to win. He has won a Supercup and another small trophy… He's old and he hasn't won anything."READ ON VICE SPORTS – "Sex Masochism" and Delayed Gratification: The Premier League Review
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