It is not customary for Juventus to dismiss a coach before the end of the season, however the situation and the victory drought of the last two months forced the club to take a drastic decision in order to try and move the team in the last two and most important matches. This is the gist of the press conference held on Monday evening at the Juventus Media Center in Vinovo which saw the participation of Juventus general manager Jean-Claude Blanc and the new coach Ciro Ferrara.
Putting the past behind and on with the next:
Mr. Blanc began by thanking Claudio Ranieri: «I would like to thank Mr. Ranieri and his staff for what they did in these two years. However, seeing the results lately especially the one achieved yesterday when we had the possibility of drawing close to Milan and now find ourselves just one point ahead of Fiorentina we were forced to take decision. We now hope to finish the season at least in third place and therefore decided to entrust this mission to Ciro Ferrara. We know it will not be an easy task. Ciro accepted immediately when we called him last night and I thank him for his disposition.»
Ferrara and the future:
Asked whether Ciro Ferrara will be the coach even during the next season Mr. Blanc answered: « Most of all Ferrara will be coach for these two days which leave a heavy mark on next season. Direct qualification to the Champions League would leave us with more time to prepare for next season and therefore to prepare better. Ciro’s mission is at least for these two matches. Then we will see and evaluate all that happened this season as we do each year and take the decision. We chose to entrust the role to a Juventus supporter, who has Juve in his blood and who has a successful past with the club. At the end of the day its the players who go down on the field but we had to take a decision and we are sure that this decision will drive the message home to the players that the next two matches are very important and the two matches must be played with the maximum effort. As from tomorrow Ferrara and his staff will be leading the team. The fact that to us the future are these two upcoming matches does not mean that we do not look ahead but that we want to concentrate totally on these two matches. We obviously are looking ahead but at the moment we are concentrating so as to give Ciro and his staff the best conditions to work in so as to overcome this difficult mission. Obviously we will not judge Ciro’s qualities on these two matches. We know his worth and his past and he will not be risking his future in these two matches. A person who has the moral strength to accept such a difficult mission immediately has the right personality to be considered even in the future. Ciro Ferrara will definitely be considered for next year at the end of the season but we must consider everything and see what our technical expectations are».
An uncustomary decision:
Juventus are not known to dismiss a coach before the end of the season and the decision even though in the air recently came with somewhat of a surprise: «We take decisions after considering the facts and we came to this decision after discussing things. By appointing Ciro Ferrra we wanted to give the players the right charge. Now the rest is up to them to start afresh with Ferrara and his staff. He is the right man at the right moment. It is true that in the last 3 years Juventus have been in a different situation from that in the past and therefore things have to be considered in that perspective. I know it is not in Juve’s style to sack a coach before the end of the season but I also know that Juve’s style is to end each season well and play in the Champions League without preliminaries and therefore we took this decision which does not fit exactly in the style of Juventus because we want to end the season well. Qualification to the Champions League without preliminaries allows the team to prepare better for the next season and therefore we had to be efficient and concrete. We had to try and change the situation which saw us not winning a single match in the last two months and therefore 55 days later we had to take this decision. The table changed things. It is clear that we must do different things then what we saw yesterday including on the field and this must come from the coach who as from today is Ciro Ferrara».
The transfer market:
Asked how this decision will effect the transfer market, Mr. Blanc answered: «The Juventus transfer marker will see the closure of the negotiations we were making with Ranieri as coach. Alessio Secco worked hard on these and we will see that they are concluded. The first is Driego who we hope to sign in the next few days. Then there is Cannavaro who I know certain supporters do not want back but when we consider all the pluses and minuses of the player we see many more pluses and we hope the signature will come very soon. Apart from these two operations we will have to study the technical situation and discuss with the coach for next season well before beginning or going on with other deals even though we have our ideas already» Juventus.com.
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