It would have been interesting to see what he would have done with this particular squad...the ones he was in charge of were never really Scudetto-winning ones...but unfortunately he could not arrest the downward spiral we were near the end of last season.
i think a big problem was that he had not the total backing of the board.
no coach can tell some stars to shut the fuck up and eat dirt on the pitch, if the stars know that if it comes to a decision between them and the coach, the board will opt for the (old) stars.
while nedved might be a very professional player with an excellent work attitude, i think some others might have got bored/tired of the demands of the coach who demands a high work rate from them on the pitch and this there was surely some fail out.
its clear that a board without knowledge of football does not know how to handle those situations correct. had the board backed ranieri in the time of "crisis" and said "listen players ... no matter who much you do earn here... if you don't follow the coach, you will be frozen out of the squad and train with the primavera and can already pack your bags for the end of the season." i believe that would have been a totally other story ... but on the other side ... players like trezeguet and camo did want to leave anyways so they might as well enjoy training with the primavera and having off-sundays.
it is comparable to the situation at inter with balotelli ... do you think its mourinho man management skill that deals that good with balotelli or adriano before ... no, if moratti had thought higher of adriano and it wasn't mourinho in charge (who earns very much there) but another coach he might as well fire the coach to keep his prized asset happy.
its not about a coach having balls or not ... a coach with balls gets fired... its the board that has to make clear that its 100% behind the coach and not behind some pantsy players that bitch around when they need to work on the pitch