The football world is one of the better platforms to prove to us that age is not really a sign of anything.
If once actors in the mid-30s were already considered adults, today they continue to be superstars.
Young players get a chance in luxury teams even before they get a driver’s license, and coaches continue to stand on the lines as in their free time they run around among the grandchildren.
One who is considered one of the best examples of this is Claudio Ranieri.
The Italian, who will celebrate his 70th birthday next week, was appointed about two weeks ago as Watford's new coach in place of Cisco Muñoz, with the aim of saving the Wasps' season and showing that his power is still at his waist.
By and large, Ranieri does not have to prove anything to anyone, certainly not to the English football fan.
Whoever led Leicester to perhaps the most exciting championship ever, in the 2015/16 season, has already made his name in the history book of the best league in the world, but still his return to the kingdom has brought quite a few eyebrows, in terms of journalists, professionals and more.
Ship stabilizer
Since being fired by the Wolves in February 2017, Ranieri has not recorded much success.
The Frenchman left Nantes after one season following a dispute with the owner, and then got Fulham, with whom he lasted just 106 days, with three wins in 17 games.
Former Manchester City defender Mika Richards has told the BBC that a change of manager at the start of the season looks "ridiculous", while retired England striker Chris Sutton has described Watford as a strange club: "It looks like a term approach "It's just short. It seems that they decided to fire Muñoz even before the last game, and that's just disgusting."
With the championship title Blaster.
No need to prove anything, Photo: Getty Images
Sutton is right.
Since the Pozzo family took over the club in 2012, Ranieri is already the 14th coach to stand on the lines at Vicarage Road, with as of early 2019/20, 12 Premier League coaches have been sacked or left by mutual consent, four of whom were Watford coaches.
Ranieri's categorizers claim that precisely because of his age, his consent to come to the club - which does not show too much patience for coaches - shows that he is desperate to get jobs.
On the other hand, there are those who love the kind-hearted grandfather.
They can present the fact that in the season when he was sacked from Fulham he came to Rome at a very difficult point, winning six games out of 12 and helping to stabilize the ship.
He then spent nearly two seasons at Sampdoria.
When he took over the team from Genoa, in October 2019, it was deep at the bottom, after six losses in seven games at the start of the season, and a year and a half later finished with them in ninth place in Serie A.
"He came to a dismantled team, improved the players, and then he built on that in the second season and took a team with almost no money to a place in Europe. He is still a very talented coach," reporter James Horncassel said.
Waiting for December
Jacob Kolshaw, founder of the Watford fan page "WD18Fans", claims that Ranieri's arrival is necessary, and comes to show the leap the club has made in the last decade.
"When the owners arrived in 2012, we were on the brink of an abyss. We only had three full stands and not much ambition. They made us an established club. The model worked over the years. It goes against the accepted way of running a club, but it works."
Whether the decision to appoint a 70-year-old coach for two years, in a club that strives to make a leap in the most glorious league on the continent, is right or not - we may know later.
To be sure, getting out of the bottom is not going to be easy at all.
Ismaila Sar (left).
Four goals this season, Photo: Reuters
The problems in the attack cry out to heaven.
Except for two games in which the front squad provided the goods, or rather, two players (Ismaila Sar and Emanuel Dennis) - in the other five games that did not receive assistance (against Brighton, Tottenham, Wolves, Newcastle and Leeds), the team scored only one goal.
Beyond that, the Wasps have not kept a clean net even once this season, and the breaking threshold seems particularly low.
And if all that is not enough, Watford will open on Saturday a streak of eight games, between which they will meet all five table leaders at the moment - Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton, plus not easy meetings with Arsenal, Southampton and Leicester.
This streak is due to end in December, just before the Christmas cycles arrive, and as it looks at the moment - not many people will bet that Ranieri will keep his job until the new year.
Ahead of the meeting with Klopp's trainees, Ranieri promised that if his players kept a clean sheet, he would invite them to a pampering meal.
But considering their ability so far, no London restaurant is making preparations to host the Italian and his gang.
More on Saturday.
Manchester United will play a difficult away game against Leicester (17:00) without Rafael Varane who was injured in the League of Nations final against Spain last Sunday.
The champions Manchester City will host Burnley (17:00) for a game that on paper should be a slight hurdle, with Chelsea trying to avoid a surprise against Brentford away (19:30).
Other games:
Aston Villa - Wolves, Norwich - Brighton, Southampton - Leeds (17:00).
