Conte named new Juventus coach
Reuters - Tuesday 31 May 2011, 12:22
MILAN - Former midfielder Antonio Conte
became the latest in a long line of coaches tasked with trying
to revive the fortunes of once mighty Juventus on Tuesday.
Conte has signed a two-year contract, the Turin-based club
said in a statement.
Juve, who finished seventh in Serie A for a second
successive season, sacked Luigi Delneri last season after just
one term in charge and have turned to the Siena coach having
been linked with the 41-year-old in the past.
"We want to succeed and we want to do it with Antonio Conte.
He is the first piece in the jigsaw to return to winning ways,"
club president Andrea Agnelli told reporters.
Conte, who led Siena to promotion back to Serie A this
month, was at the centre of one of the best midfields in Europe
in the 1990s and early 2000s as Juve routinely dominated Serie A
and reached the latter stages of the Champions League.
He won 14 trophies as a player with the club known as the
"Old Lady."
Since then Juve, Italy's best supported and most successful
club domestically, have endured a dreadful spell on and off the
field.
Their 2006 demotion for match-fixing was followed by an
immediate return to the top flight under Didier Deschamps and ta
third-place Serie A finish under Claudio Ranieri but both
managers surprisingly left.
In 2009/10, both Ciro Ferrara and Alberto Zaccheroni failed
to stop a sudden rot and they ended up a lowly seventh.
NEW STADIUM
Delneri was brought in, having guided Sampdoria to fourth,
but Juve again flopped having struggled in the transfer market,
failing to recruit the very top talent as they used to do with
the stigma of match-fixing still haunting the club.
Juve, trying to boost revenues, move to a new stadium for
next season on the site of their old Stadio Delle Alpi having
shared with Torino the cramped Stadio Olimpico since 2006.
They will become the first Italian club to own their own
ground but difficulties finding a sponsor for the new stadium
have again undermined their attempt at renaissance and chief
executive Jean-Claude Blanc recently announced his departure.
Fiery Conte brought Bari up to Serie A two years ago but
then left after a row with the board before a short unhappy
spell at Atalanta, who have been linked with a move for former
boss Delneri now they are back in the top flight.
"His CV speaks for itself," Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon
said of Conte from Italy's training camp.
"He is an extremely charismatic and positive person, he
knows the environment perfectly. He knows Juve better than me
and is intelligent and informed."