Claudio Ranieri was sacked as Inter coach on Monday evening when, earlier in the day, he had been confirmed as manager till the end of the season.

The beleaguered Italian side – out of the Champions League and Coppa Italia, and languishing in the eighth place of the campionato – have changed coach every six months on average ever since José Mourinho took the club to an unprecedented treble in 2010.

Rafa Benitez lasted between July and December of that same year and was replaced by Leonardo till the end of that season. The Brazilian chose to jump ship to a desk job in Paris, and was substituted by Giampiero Gasperini in July 2011. But it only took a poor start to the campaign, including a defeat to Milan in the Italian Super Cup, for Gasperini to be removed, with Ranieri taking over. Six months down the line, with little improvement registered and a string of poor results (only one win in the last 10 games) it was Ranieri’s turn to make way for the younger Andrea Stramaccioni.

All good things come to an end, and Inter’s domination in the Serie A – which started when the calciopoli scandal erupted in 2006 – is now over. Last year, Inter managed to save their season with the Coppa Italia win, but this year it is unlikely that they will manage a top-three berth that guarantees access to the Champions League, and risk also to be left out of the Europa League.

Inter President Massimo Moratti has blamed Gasperini for the poor results obtained thus far. He conveniently forgot that he was the one who sought his services when Leonardo called it a day. And he also conveniently forgot that Gasperini was not given the players that he demanded whereas the star of the team, Samuel Eto’o, was sold to a Russian side just to make some money.

It was not Gasperini’s fault that Inter have failed miserably. Teams function in cycles, but the club did not see the signs. When players like Maicon, Milito, Lucio, Samuel and Stankovic are past their best, it is time to move on and seek their replacements. Yet Inter held on to them while selling Eto’o (still at his peak) and later Thiago Motta too. It is only 38-year-old captain Zanetti who maintained his standards and, with it, the motivation to continue.

Stramaccioni, formerly coach of the youth squad, is expected to use the rest of the season to bring in youngsters into the team. It will probably be a short experience for him, because Inter will name an experienced coach for the next season. He will be the sixth in three years.