And that, of course is one of the reasons why he has presented such an amiable, benign front to the world in the last few months. He has won the sympathy vote hands down.
Poor old Ranieri! Surely he deserves better. His meek, uncomplaining acceptance of his fate has impressed some in the game but, more than that, has given Chelsea very little room for manoeuvre in negotiating a settlement with him.
For public consumption Ranieri has adopted the face of the angelic martyr, leaving us to draw our own conclusions about the behaviour of Abramovich, Peter Kenyon and the Stamford Bridge henchmen.
Claudio doesn't deserve to be treated in such an unedifying fashion but anyone who worked for Jesus Gil in Spain knows the way of the football world.
Wasn't the Italian telling anyone who would listen, just a couple of years ago, that if Barcelona were really interested in him then, well, who knows what might happen?
He knows too that in the modern game results are what matters. People talk grandly about building clubs and developing young players but for the growing number of foreign investors and coaches in English football results, trophies and big salaries are all that matters.
It's hard to know exactly how much input Ranieri had in last summer's glut of signings but it is a fact that most of Chelsea's best players - Cudicini, Lampard, Terry, Gallas, Desailly, Gudjohnsen - were at the club before he arrived.
He believed he would build a team good enough to win the Premiership title. He didn't. His legacy? One or two outstanding results - 4-0 at Lazio, 2-1 at Highbury - but no trophies.
So, I suspect that Jose Mourinho will need to win just one trophy to consign his Italian predecessor to footnote status in Chelsea history.
