Friday 11 December 2015 15:31, UK
Sky Sports News HQ reporter Rob Dorsett caught up with Claudio Ranieri to find the Leicester manager in a 'fantastic moment'.
Top of the table and Premier League manager of the month... it's easy to see why Claudio Ranieri is always smiling but, after 30 years in football management, he knows charm and a winning smile are not enough.
"You see me smiling but also I have two hands," he says. "On one hand, I'm very careful and on the other I'm very strong.
"You see me with only the left hand but my right hand is very strong." With that, he clenches his right hand into a fist. But the smile is still there. And the audience laughs.
The audience is, in fact, the growing number of journalists that attend Ranieri's weekly news conference. Eight television cameras were there this week and it took him a good few minutes to continue his tradition of shaking hands with everyone there. It seems everyone wants a piece of Leicester City right now.
"There is an electrical momentum here," he tells me, with an evangelical look to the heavens. "Everybody is positive and want to do something. They listen to everything I say and try to do it immediately on the pitch. It does not always happen, but for me as a coach, it is fantastic."
The man is approachable and amiable. When I chat to him off-camera, he isn't guarded or suspicious of my journalistic intentions. He is happy to recount stories from his considerable coaching background, and offer opinions on the footballing issues of the day.
But he never lets slip anything he thinks could damage him. Or his team. I thought I was on to something when I asked him, on camera, whether he shared the belief of Ferguson, Mourinho and Wenger that Leicester are title-contenders.
"No, no. It is not possible. We have a little problem we have to cover very well, and we continue to work in the training sessions to sort it out."
'What is the problem?' I ask. "No, I don't want to say - it is a small tactical problem, and I don't want to tell everyone about it."
Again, comes that disarming smile. But his overall message is unflinching. And it is the same message for media, fans and his players.
"It is ok for us to be checked at the end of the season. I want to see when we reach the 40 points and maybe then we change our goal. For me it is very important. We have a very good team, but we must build something, and not in one year. We have to build. Then it is important to maintain, keep our feet on the floor, and keep working very hard in training and on the pitch."
The same resolve is evident when you ask him about the possibility of his stars being poached by bigger clubs in January.
"I'm sure they want to stay with us. They want to improve, increase, they have very good potential but they must stay with us if they want to achieve big teams because maybe in two years, three years, Leicester will be a very big team, too."
'Will it test your bosses' resolve if a very big offer came in, do you think?' I ask. "I don't know, I do not talk to my bosses about this, but we don't need the money, we need the very good players to build our dream, and the dream of the fans."
I want to see when we reach the 40 points and maybe then we change our goal. For me it is very important.
Leicester's fans are in dreamland right now. Tipped for relegation by many at the start of the season, they're top of the Premier League after 15 games. They play a fast, attractive style of football, and are the only team in the division to have scored in every Premier League game.
The bookies still have Ranieri's former employers Chelsea as favourites to win Monday's game at the King Power Stadium, but Ranieri knows that when it comes to public opinion, his side are the favourites.
"I think slowly, slowly, all the fans in England say Leicester is playing a big team and maybe they are behind us, but we don't think about it. We think only about our match. They have fantastic players, players who can themselves win the match.
"They are the former champions, it is unbelievable for me what has happened this season but I think only Mourinho can show them the way to go up. "
Since Ranieri took over in the summer, Leicester's fortunes have only gone in one direction, and some of the biggest names in football are tipping them to continue rising.
Maybe we can expect to see much more of that famous Ranieri grin.
Watch Leicester take on Chelsea live on Sky Sports 1 from 7pm on Monday Night Football
