Sunday provided the death knell. The Nerazzurri’s 2-0 defeat to Juventus in Turin caused only 50 per cent of the damage, with the president having been at Brisbane Road in London hours earlier to watch Andrea Stramaccioni’s Primavera side win the first-ever NextGen Series on penalties against Ajax.
The youth coach passed his interview with flying colours.
And so, despite claims on Monday from Moratti himself that Ranieri would see out the season, that was never going to be the case.
Once more the 66-year-old supremo broke his bond with a coach, his 17th in 17 years. Stramaccioni becomes number 18, but one suspects that another will follow in the summer.
Andre Villas-Boas remains the favourite, but we’ve all seen before that that doesn’t mean he’ll be the man Moratti eventually appoints. And even if he did, why would the experience be a new one for either man?
The president's short-sightedness has reached new heights with this latest move.
Having hired Gian Piero Gasperini last summer as his fifth choice to replace Leonardo, by September he was appointing the former Juventus and Roma boss. He wanted the ultimate fire-fighter, and he got him, but even Ranieri couldn’t douse the flames of the burning wreck that remains of Inter’s ship.
It’s now rudderless, with a captain who doesn’t know his port from his starboard.
Moratti has delivered in trophies to an extent since 1995, but has rarely given real direction, and the last two years have been a case in point. With Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, Leonardo, Gasperini, Ranieri and now Stramaccioni, the oil magnate has presided over six different coaching eras in just over 22 months.
There must be a real change in mentality from Moratti. He must finally wake up to the fact that there is a long-term job to be done by whomever he decides is the right man to take Inter into next season.
Stramaccioni has just nine games to prove he is that man, and anything less than seven wins probably won’t be enough. The Nerazzurri lie 10 points off the Champions League play-off spot and will more than likely miss out on European football completely next term. But there are bigger issues at hand.
While Ranieri walks away with his head high – the architect of seven straight wins not so long back – Moratti will be left to stew on yet another failure as the result of his own inability to back his coach.
Whereas with Benitez it was his reluctance to sign Javier Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt which stymied the Spaniard’s progress, and likewise with Gasperini it was the decision not to purchase Rodrigo Palacio, all Ranieri had asked was that his best-performing midfielder, Thiago Motta, was not sold from under him.
The Italo-Brazilian’s €10million move to Paris Saint-Germain came at a time when multiple victories were about to become multiple defeats, and there was no coincidence.
Just as Samuel Eto’o’s sale had done for Gasperini as a potential winner, Motta’s was the end of the ‘Tinkerman’. As soon as it was clear that the sale was to be pushed through by the board, Inter started losing again. And again. And again.
From both outside and within the club, it was clear that he was not being backed, with Moratti even admitting to the public he was considering his options.
The Roman held none of the cards, and the players knew it. He couldn’t get the best out of Wesley Sneijder, but it was always going to be the coach and not the player who would be sacrificed first. Ranieri certainly made mistakes during his six-month reign, but Moratti made many more.
There is a school of thought that the president has earned his right to make whatever choices he wants in terms of appointments given that he recently led the club through one of its greatest spells.
But the huge outlay that he has made in financial terms has not been equally reflected in the trophy room. Instead of the club continuing to cash in with a long dynasty, they remain in disarray.
Stramaccioni is the latest to get his hands on the poisoned chalice, and while his credentials are certainly promising, it shouldn’t take long for Moratti to compromise them in the same way he has done with so many of the 17 before him.