Bates backs Ranieri as Chelsea hit buffers again

Chairman's support for manager will not waver in aftermath of humiliating Uefa Cup exit for third successive season

Chelsea's faith in their Italian manager, Claudio Ranieri, is being tested again following a third successive elimination from the Uefa Cup at an embarrassingly early stage. The indications are, however, that the Premiership club's chairman, Ken Bates, will be more inclined to blame the players than the coach for a 5-4 aggregate defeat to Viking of Norway. "He's safe as houses," one source said yesterday.

Ranieri was awarded a three-year extension to his contract only last April. In his own words: "The chairman told me: 'Stay five years to build a new Chelsea'."

Bates was satisfied with last season's achievements – an FA Cup final, Worthington Cup semi-final and sixth place in the Premiership – and believes that the manager is carrying out his brief to shape a younger squad. Only one player, Enrique de Lucas, was signed (on a free transfer) in the summer and the team were unbeaten in the first eight games of the season, reaching third place in the Premiership until the defeats by West Ham United last Saturday and Viking Stavanger on Thursday.

The Norwegian side scored critical goals in the last few minutes of each leg, taking advantage of a team missing five regular defenders at Stamford Bridge and still without their captain, Marcel Desailly, Mario Melchiot, Albert Ferrer and Celestine Babayaro for the return. John Terry, with only 45 minutes in the reserve team behind him, looked rusty on his return despite scoring in the second half to put Chelsea ahead on away goals, a lead wiped out by a late intervention from the former Manchester United player Erik Nevland.

"I am not angry with my defenders," Ranieri said. "They are young. We had to make too many changes and they were not in the best condition. I am very happy with the performance of my players.

"Of course, I am not happy because we conceded four goals and that is strange for Chelsea. We played well and dominated the game but we made a lot of mistakes and gave them four goals as presents. I am very disappointed. As manager I take a lot of responsibility."

Nevland said: "Maybe they could learn a bit from us in terms of fighting spirit and then they would probably pick up a few more points in the Premier League as well.

"We are a team who work for each other and we have done that all season. We have been behind in many games and we have always fought back. We knew if we had that spirit we could do something against Chelsea."

Lack of spirit was the same accusation levelled at the London side a year ago when six players refused to travel to Tel Aviv for the first leg of a Uefa Cup tie against Hapoel. The Israeli side scored two late goals and held out for a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. A year earlier Chelsea went out in the first round of the same competition, losing 2-0 to St Gallen of Switzerland in Ranieri's second match after replacing Gianluca Vialli as manager.

"I don't know what to say, I really don't," Gianfranco Zola said on Chelsea's website. "I feel sorry for all the fans who made the trip."

Fellow striker Jesper Gronkjaer echoed Zola's sentiments "We're all deeply disappointed. We defended poorly and we should have scored more goals, I should have scored," he said.

As usual, bowing out in Europe had an adverse effect on the share price of Chelsea Village, the club's holding company, which fell 1p yesterday to 16p. Before the Hapoel defeat last October, the price had been 31.5p. Last month, The Independent revealed Chelsea's total debts to be much higher than the £97m normally quoted. New figures are due to be released on 15 October, ahead of next month's annual general meeting.

Bates has always insisted that the Uefa Cup, unlike the Champions' League, is of no significance financially. "There is no prize money, no centralised marketing deal and no TV deal," he said. "Given the generous bonuses we pay our players in Europe, we would lose money if we were to win the cup."

There is no danger of that now, but after Thursday's result Bates is even more determined to resist the players' claims that they are owed a bonus for qualifying for the competition. He insists that they are not entitled to one, because technically Chelsea earned a place through reaching the FA Cup final, which they lost, not their league position.

Following last season's exit, the team lost only one of their next 10 matches, beating Manchester United, Leeds and Liverpool in quick succession. With a visit to Anfield tomorrow and then an easier list of games until the new year, there is scope for an equally good run this time. Ranieri, who has been slower to win over the supporters than the chairman, knows he could do with it.

Blue gloom: Chelsea's European failures

St Gallen 2 Chelsea 0

Uefa Cup, 2000-01

St Gallen win 2-1 on aggregate

The 600-1 Swiss outsiders left Ranieri in no doubt as to the magnitude of the job he had inherited at Stamford Bridge. All Chelsea's old frailties returned as they crashed out of the first round of the Uefa Cup against a side struggling in the Swiss league. To make matters worse, this was the night Roberto Di Matteo suffered the horrific broken leg that was to terminate his career. Despite a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Chelsea could not break through, falling to goals from Sascha Müller and Charles Amoah.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 Chelsea 0

Uefa Cup, 2001-02

Hapoel win 3-1 on aggregate

Two late goals proved the difference between the sides with Chelsea only able to force a 1-1 draw in the second leg at Stamford Bridge two weeks later. Chelsea left six players behind in London because of security fears arising from the political crisis in the Middle East. To compound their misery Chelsea saw Mario Melchiot sent off early in the second half for an off-the-ball incident. Hapoel's coach Bror Kashtan taunted: "We showed our guests from England that there is sport here, security and calm."

Viking 4 Chelsea 2

Uefa Cup, 2002-03

Viking win 5-4 on aggregate

More travel misery for Chelsea as they lost a tie that they led on away goals for much of the second half. Erik Nevland, rejected by Manchester United four years ago, scored the goal that dumped Chelsea out of the Uefa Cup. It looked as if John Terry had saved Chelsea when he popped up on his first appearance of the season to score the goal that put the Premiership team ahead on the away-goals rule. Morten Berre opened the scoring for the Norwegians after eight minutes and Peter Kopteff swept home a second goal after 33 minutes, before Frank Lampard pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time. Nevland scored his first of the night after 59 minutes, but Terry struck with a far-post header three minutes later. Nevland scored the winner with only four minutes remaining.