A Sad Day

As a Juventus fan it goes without saying that I wish the best of luck to new Juventus coach, Ciro Ferrara. Having said that, I must admit to have been taken aback by the decision by the club to fire Claudio Ranieri.

Admittedly, these past two months, things were not rosy, and it was becoming quite evident that there was growing tension within the squad. The fact, however, remains that Juventus are a mere three points adrift of Milan in second place. It is also a fact that for the last two games of the season, Juventus have a much easier fixture than either Milan or Fiorentina, which have to face off each other in the last day of the season. Second place is firmly within sight, and besides it makes no sense to fire a coach a mere two fixtures away from the end of the season.

And let's look reality in the face shall we? Until this difficult patch, Juventus were having an excellent season. Let's admit it, the quality of the squad is what it is, and there is no comparison between the depth and quality made available to Claudio Ranieri and that at the disposal of Jose Mourinho at Inter. And if that were not enough, during this campaign Juventus have been plagued with a long serious of injuries, further depleting the squad available to Ranieri. But despite all the odds, Juventus were clearly in contention for the greatest part of the season, with a decent run in the Uefa Champions League and the Coppa Italia.

Something must have happened to rock the boat. A lot remains still shrouded in mystery but all fingers point to the infamous dinner between Jean Claude Blanc and Marcello Lippi as having triggered these unfortunate chain of events. Following that encounter, it became evident that Claudio Ranieri was no longer in command and that he had become a sitting duck. Rather than support him, the new Juventus management choose to give him the sack, something anathema to the 'stile Juve' of which all Juventus fans are so proud of.

The fact that Juventus hadn't sacked a coach in the previous forty or so years is quite telling. Yesterday was indeed a sad day in the Juventus history. There is no doubt in my mind that such an event would have never happened had l'Avvocato and Boniperti had still been in charge. Unfortunately, however, as was clearly evidenced at the time of the calciopoli bubble, the present management, competent though it may be when it comes to the business side of things, is clearly unable to handle the sporting aspect of management, showing clear signs of panic at the first signs of adverse results.

As a fan, I can only hope that the team can put this sad episode quickly behind it and rise again to its past glory. As a realist, I fear that this may be quite an unattainable target, at least in the short term.