Ranieri’s reign at Chelsea may last longer than expected

CLAUDIO RANIERI’S future as Chelsea manager looks considerably brighter after the Italian held a “very good meeting” with the club’s officials.

Ranieri has spent much of the season with a cloud hanging over his future, and speculation that he was to be sacked in the summer intensified following Peter Kenyon's appointment as chief executive.

But following Chelsea's victory over Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final last week, and their continued good form in the Barclaycard Premiership, where they currently lie second behind the Gunners, Ranieri has now revealed he is in talks to remain at Stamford Bridge, where he has a rolling contract to 2007.