The Current State of Calcio

This is something I wrote a while back, so it isn't really that current anymore, but as of March 2, 2010 it was, but the updated version wouldn't look much better in regards to stats...

As a Juventina, I have spent the past 6 months watching and supporting my Juventus this season. I have supported them for as long as I can remember, however, I never remember anything quite like what has been happening questa stagione. Let's take a look at some stats from this season (2009-10):
Matches Played: 26
Wins: 12
Draws: 5
Losses: 9
At first glance, that might not seem all that bad. We have won more matches than we have lost. That isn't the point. How many of those wins were in the first half of the season? 10. In the first 19 matches we won 10 even beating our biggest rivals, Inter. Sure we had a few draws and losses mixed in there, but we won the majority of our matches in the first leg. Now, there have been 26 matches played total thus far. Out of the other 7 matches we played this season we have only won 2. 2 of 7 may not look that bad on paper, however, the games themselves have been so painful I almost couldn't watch.
Now, let's go back to our first season back from Serie B, 2007-08. We finished that season in 3rd place, behind Inter and Roma, with 72 points. By the end of that season our stats looked like this:
Wins: 20
Draws: 12
Losses: 6
In our entire season back in Serie A, we had less losses than we have just over halfway through this season. This is very, very disturbing. Perhaps it was the coaching that has brought about this change? During the 2007-08 season Claudio Ranieri was our coach. He came to Juve having never won any titles before. We knew that, however, we were not necessarily chasing any kind of titles that season, realistically. We needed a coach who would be able to resotre Juve to the grande Juve it was post-calciopoli. Clearly, the Mister did his job. A 3rd place finish and Champions League spot seemed like a positive starting point after being humiliated, broken and decimated as a consequence of calciopoli. Hell, Alessandro Del Piero was even leading scorer that season having put 21 goals in the back of the net, with David Trezeguet finishing 2nd with 20 goals! Not an entirely bad start to the "rebuilding" process, as our management so love to put it. Don't get me wrong, our experience in Serie B was not a total waste. I believe it was a very humbling experience for those of our Old Guard who stayed with us. We got a taste of the other side and saw that calcio is not all about sold out stadi and who can buy the best and most expensive foreigners, but instead that calcio is about the team coming together to rally a victory, similar to how the Juve pre-calciopoli rallied to victory when others would count us out. Due to the departure of several key players we got to bring up some of our young kids and discovered some amazing talent. Before Serie B who had heard of Sebastian Giovinco, other than those who had the pleasure of watching him play for the Primavera? It also wasn't until Serie B that the likes of Claudio Marchisio, Paolo De Ceglie, Antonio Mirante, Federico Balzaretti, Matteo Paro, Raffaele Palladino, and Davide Lanzafame really got noticed. Looking at those names it is a shame to see that many of them have moved on to various teams, most of which have had a fair amount of success.

Getting back to my previous point, is it the coaching that has brought such a downfall to a once successful team? Our coaching over the past 4 seasons has looked a little bit like this:
2006-07: Didier Deschamps/Giancarlo Corradini (for the last 2 matches)
2007-08: Claudio Ranieri
2008-09: Claudio Ranieri/Ciro Ferrara (for the last 2 matches)
2009-10: Ciro Ferrara/Alberto Zaccheroni
We have had 5 coaches in 4 seasons. Thus, to answer my own question I think it is nearly impossible to blame our current form on a single coach because clearly there has been such instability in that department. That is one area our management has failed us. They have yet to bring in a long-term coach. But I will get back to those geniuses in just a minute.

If it isn't the coaches' faults then does the blame fall on the players? Sure, this would be the easy answer - the players should take the blame because they are the ones playing the matches right? Of course, however, they need a leader to guide them through preparing for said matches. That would be the coach and with the evident lack of stability within our coaching staff I think it is safe to say that we can't blame the current situation on our boys. However, that being said, our squad has changed a tad over the past few seasons. Here are some of the transfers we have seen:
Following the 2005-06 season:
Out: Christian Abbiati, Igor Tudor, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lillian Thuram, Fabio Cannavaro, Patrick Viera, Emerson, Manuale Blasi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fabrizio Miccoli, Adrian Mutu
In (or brought in from the Primavera): Cristiano Zanetti, Valeri Bojinov, Antonio Mirante, Felice Piccolo, Federico Balzaretti, Claudio Marchisio, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Matteo Paro, Raffaele Palladino, Emanuale Belardi, Paolo De Ceglie, Nicola Legrottaglie, Marco Marchionni, Sebastian Giovinco, Davide Lanzafame
We took a heavy hit that year in the transfer market after being relegated to Serie B.
Following the 2007-08 season:
Out: Antonio Nocerino, Marcelo Zalayeta, Davide Lanzafame, Raffaele Palladino
In: Olof Mellberg, Albin Ekdal, Amauri, Paolo De Ceglie, Claudio Marchisio, Sebastian Giovinco, Christian Poulsen, Alex Manninger,
Those were just the major transfers we made that season. Several of the players "transferred out" were put out on loan or co-ownership. Also, several of the players brought into the squad were called back from loan or bought in full from co-ownership deals.
Prior to the 2009-10 season:
Out: Pavel Nedved, Dominico Criscito, Antonio Mirante, Olof Mellberg, Marco Marchionni, Cristiano Zanetti
In: Fabio Cannavaro, Diego, Michele Paolucci, Felipe Melo, Martin Caceres, Fabio Grosso, Antonio Candreva
Again, just the major transfers of the season. Some players were sent out on loan and some were called back respectively from both lists. In between the season I've mentioned some other notable transfers have included signing Tiago, Cristian Molinaro, Hasan Salihamidžić, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Mohamad Sissoko, Sergio Almiron, Antonio Nocerino (and later selling him in order to buy Amauri). Looking at these transfers and our current squad list it is quite evident that our coaching staff hasn't had a lack of talent, however, they haven't had the cream of the crop either. So, if it isn't the coaches or the players fault, who can I place the blame on? Easy. The management or perhaps lack there of.
Our current management is made up of:
Chairman - Chief Executive Officer - General Manager (A.K.A President): Jean-Claude Blanc
COO Sport Department (A.K.A Sporting Director) Alessio Secco
Vice General Manager Sport Department (A.K.A. Secco's Babysitter) Roberto Bettega
Keeping in mind Bettega only joined us as an early Christmas gift, most of our management including the other two mentioned above, is made up of businessmen. They have no clue as to how to run a football club because all they know how to do is look out for themselves. Jean-Claude Blanc deserves credit in regards to our finances as well as the new stadium. Alessio Secco, on the other hand, has, in my opinion, directly caused the demise of my Grande Juve of the pre-calciopoli days. Lest we forget his terribly important position as press secretary under Moggi. Can you taste the sarcasm? He has sold some of the most promising young talent Juventus has seen in a long time and those same players he gave up on for "experienced players" are now very successful at their new teams for the most part. He has spent millions of euros on stupid buys, overrated, past - their - prime players, and has overall yet to have a good mercato since he was promoted in May 2006. I only wish I could find a job where I could screw up as many times as Secco has and still have said job. The only semi-intelligent buys he has made thus far are: Manninger, Caceres, and Iaquinta. As well as bringing players like Giovinco, Marchisio, De Ceglie back from loan. Looking at that list of a whole 3 players, that isn't a very good track record considering the man has had 4 years to "rebuild" Juventus. I understand that he is not the only one making decisions, however, a lot of it does fall on him. He is the sporting director and as such he should be making intelligent buys not ones that will hinder his team. In February 2009 Secco extended his contract with Juventus until 2011. Wait. Extended?! You mean to tell me that he was almost out of a contract and we extended it!? In doing that we basically told him that what he was doing was good and that he should continue in this manner. Well, look where that's gotten us. A 12-5-9 record and an even crappier looking starting line-up than a Serie C1 team at this point.

There are several things that need to be done to fix Juventus. Sadly, it will take time given the state of our current managemtn. First, this summer Alessio Secco's contract needs to be terminated. Forever. And he should receive a lifetime ban from being within 100 feet of any Juventus establishment. We should either make Bettega the Sporting Director OR hire a REAL Sporting Director, not some Mickey Mouse Press Secratary who probably doesn't know the difference between an Attacking Mid from a Defensive Mid. Secondly, we need to get a coach who is a LONG TERM investment. We do not need anymore of these band-aid solutions. That is one of the things that is causing the inconsistency in our performances. Thirdly, we need to do a total clean-out of our squad. Amarui, Melo, Poulsen, Grosso, Chimenti, Zebina all have to leave immediately. And by immediately I mean the day the summer transfer market opens. Also, Tiago and Molinaro need to be sold instead of just a loan deal. I don't need to take the chance of them being recalled. We need to focus on our youth. We don't need to do a lot of buying, we have to bring up players from the Primavera. Our Primavera squad is currently in first place by 8 points and we also won Viareggio this year (and many years in the past). Ciro Immobile is READY to play in the first team. Giovinco is MORE THAN READY to play in the first team. Bamba, Esposito, Rossi, and Marrone are all READY for the first team. If it is decided that perhaps you want more depth in the squad, buy a COUPLE "big" names to add to the squad, not run the squad or decide the squad. Every match Giovinco sits on the bench we are only pushing him a little bit further away. It truly makes me ashamed to be a Juventina sometimes just in seeing the way our current management treats our young talent. Send them away until what? Until they settle at their new team, explode and then bring them back only to find they despise you and want to permanently move back to the team they were successful with all because YOU were too stupid to see their potential?! Of course the injuries we have had this season to key players has not helped in the least, but I am getting sick of letting the management escape the blame. As tifosi we feel as though we can't do anything about the situation and sadly we are probably right. We will just have to wait until someone high up at Juve finally starts thinking about the team instead of their bank accounts. I think Bettega is a step in the right direction because I know he truly loves Juve like us tifosi do.
Only one more thing to say:
Forza Juventus per sempre. Sono Juventina ieri, oggi e domani. Solo la Juve. The blood in my veins runs bianconero through thick and thin, from Serie A to Serie B and back home to Serie A again. I ask of you now only to play like you feel the same way. Play for the tifosi who love you and idolize you. Always remember the true spirit of Juventus - we never give up, we pick ourselves up in the worst of moments and we bring ourselves back stronger than before. Hold your heads high and never lose you dignity. Per tutte della mia vita, solo la Juve nel mio cuore. Ti amo, Juventus.