Speaking in the Spanish daily rag Marca, Ranners said "Abramovich knows nothing about football. That's the real shame. If he had understood what my side had achieved that season he would have valued me more highly. We did it all without any money.

"Ever since he arrived at the club Abramovich wanted Eriksson. From the very start. They even met in the summer.

"But Eriksson said he couldn't leave the England team and so the next day Abramovich met me and told me: 'OK, you've done a good job these last few years and you are going to carry on.'

"I already have the Abramovich sword embedded in me. I'm convinced that even if I win the Champions League I will be sacked.

"It was a very tough job to sign so many players and get them to play together. Abramovich didn't realise that. He thought I'll sign that one and that one and then we will win."

Dead man walking- you most certainly are Claudio. But I think we should all take this with a pinch of salt. After all, this is the same Spanish newspaper that claimed that skint Barcelona were going to sign Ruud van Nistelrooy.

As Sir Alex Ferguson said, "You're asking me to trust a Spaniard?". Ouch!