Serie A - Juventus sack Ranieri

Eurosport - Tue, 19 May 08:37:00 2009

Claudio Ranieri has been sacked as Juventus coach after a poor run of results with youth team boss Ciro Ferrara taking over on a temporary basis.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Serie A Juventus Ranieri - 0

The Turin side are a point above fourth-placed Fiorentina with two matches left and are in danger of slipping out of an automatic Champions League berth after a run of seven Serie A games without a win.

Fourth place guarantees only a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds.

Club chief executive Jean Claude Blanc said Ferrara's appointment was initially for the last two games of the season.

"The next two games are our future," Blanc said. "It is not our style (to sack someone) but we can not miss out on Europe. We wanted to shock the players so they'd take the right path with the right man at the right moment."

Ferrara, a former Juventus defender, is also assistant to Italy coach and ex-Juve boss Marcello Lippi but has never managed a club before.

"The players must rediscover their pride and the right motivation. I want to thank those who believed that I could be useful in this moment, I appreciate it a lot," Ferrara said.

The former Italy international, who also played for Napoli, won seven Italian championships as a player and one Champions League with Juve in 1996.

"He is already a talisman for us and has nothing to prove," Blanc added.

Former Chelsea coach Ranieri succeeded Didier Deschamps in June 2007 after Juve were promoted back to Serie A following their demotion for match-fixing.

They finished third last season and made a decent start to this term, beating Real Madrid home and away in the Champions League, but the recent bad run has shown no signs of ending.

Sunday's 2-2 home draw with Atalanta, played in an empty stadium after fans were banned for racist chanting, proved to be the last straw for the board despite officials previously saying Ranieri would be safe until the end of the season.

Media reports have said former Juve midfielder Antonio Conte, who has led Bari to promotion to Serie A this season, is among the frontrunners to take over full-time if Ferrara's appointment remains temporary.

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti and Gian Piero Gasperini, who has said he is staying as Genoa manager, have also been linked with the job.

Juventus had been Internazionale's main challengers for the title but are now three points below second-placed Milan.

They bravely lost to Chelsea in the Champions League last 16, their first European campaign since their demotion, and were beaten by Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

Ranieri had not been popular with fans for several weeks and recently left top striker Alessandro Del Piero out of the team.

Apart from forward Amauri, Juve's purchases under Ranieri have generally disappointed with midfielders Tiago and Christian Poulsen especially struggling.

Italy's most successful domestic club, with 27 league titles, are in the process of buying Werder Bremen's Brazilian playmaker Diego and re-signing Real Madrid and Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro for next season.

Reuters

Comment 35 - 54 of 54

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  1. if it wasnt from raneiry they would have been @ the­ lower part of the table

    From getachew44, on Tue 19 May 10:19AM

  2. italian football have been efected by recession and­ swine flu

    From getachew44, on Tue 19 May 10:16AM

  3. juve is normal team after moji and jeraudo left

    From getachew44, on Tue 19 May 10:15AM

  4. justin22seiko - How many Italian clubs made it to the­ Champions League final 8, answers on a­ postcard!

    Itailian football is dying!

    From Donis, on Tue 19 May 8:38AM

  5. juve is stupid to sack ranieri....they shudnt even have­ signed him in the 1st place...that guy always panic­ when thing goes wrong..

    From mustahil, on Tue 19 May 8:09AM

  6. I totally agree with you Andrew. Most of these guys­ here don't even know what they're talking­ about...Ranieri is a 2nd or 3rd place coach...never a­ winner...and my thanks to him for bringing Juve­ there...but we can't be content with 3rd place­ forever so it was time to fire him...We need someone­ like Lippi or Mancini...a coach that can win titles for­ us....even spalleti would be great given the fact that­ he kept roma in the fighting for all these seasons with­ limited resources.
    As for the rest of the EPL­ fans...don't you have some cristiano ronaldo­ article to comment on?...leave Serie A in peace...cause­ you know nothing about it.

    From ZzaK, on Tue 19 May 7:22AM

  7. rightly so.. n raneiri is the best solution that they­ can get to replace Deschamps.. like mourinho said that­ the only cup he won is Spanish Cup with Valencia decade­ ago.. dont get me wrong, i'm not pro-mourinho or­ chelsea whatsoever..

    From gorka, on Tue 19 May 6:36AM

  8. Good that he's gone. What coach benches the best­ scorer of 2008 in Series A and the most loyal Juve­ player. How crazy. People will see the results.

    From pablotheagave, on Tue 19 May 6:27AM

  9. Serie A is the most dramatic, powerful, talented,­ technical league on the PLANET....if you like the EPL­ whatever..but what makes me sick is how everyone in the­ UK basically snubs italian football (its not even on­ tv)... when the facts speak for themselves, almost all­ the best players in the world play in Serie A....

    From justin, on Tue 19 May 6:24AM

  10. gorka, not quite right. He wanted to stay but they gave­ him tough conditions that equated to him refusing the­ contract. Deschamps is a bit of a character as he is­ stubborn and very disciplined but I think he did not­ get a fair treatement and should have been supported.

    From Half A Brain, on Tue 19 May 5:41AM

  11. coolworld,
    if i remember this correctly it was­ Deschamps himself that refuse to continue managing Juve­ in Serie A not otherwise..

    From gorka, on Tue 19 May 5:25AM

  12. It's ridiculous listening to most of these comments­ saying how good Ranieri was, and then the ratings­ given. My guess is that most are just diehard EPL­ supporters with no knowledge of what happens in Serie­ A. Yeah he left on unfair circumstances at Chelsea, but­ Juve have not won a match in 2 months now, and people­ on here are commending him? He is in charge of the most­ successful club in Italy and has been satisfied to see­ a lot of the results that end in draws!!
    His­ substitutions are poor (look at the first game of the­ season for a great example), his selections are­ sometimes even worse and he barely gives the young­ players a chance (in contrast to Mourinho who likes to­ play Santon and Balotelli), so the title­ "tinkerman" is not always a­ compliment.
    That's not to say he's not a good­ coach, but for big clubs he is too inconsistent. And­ for those who disagree, i'm curious to see how fans­ of Chelsea would react if Scolari went on a 2 month­ winless streak and then comes out to say that he was­ given a 5 year plan to win the Premier League.

    From Andrew, on Tue 19 May 5:04AM

  13. the biggest mistake of juve was to get rid of­ Deschamps,the guy brought them back from dead from 15­ points below zero in second division to top that league­ and back in first in one season with extraordinary­ results,and their best players had left before he took­ charge. and they gave his job to ranieri immidiately.­ ridiculous.

    From coolworld, on Tue 19 May 4:24AM

  14. WHAN A WAKE OPP WELL A NO IM GOANAY BE IM GOANAY BE­­ THA MON HOO WAKES OPP NAXT TAY U. WHAN I GO OOT YEAH I­­ NO IM GOANAY BE THA MON HOO GOES ALANG WATH U. AF I­­ GET DRANK WELL I NO IM GOAN TAY BE THA MON HOO GEETS­­ PASHED NAXT TAY YOU . WELL I WAD WACK FAVE HANDRAD­­ MEELS OND I WAD WACK FAVE HANDRAD MAR DO DO DO DO DO­­ DO. 500 MEELS, THA PROCLEEMARS.
    From­ donneysbeck

    Donneysbeck you ave the ramblings of a­ true pedo wan.ker c.ock sucker psycho
    Leave the­ football comments to people who know something about­ football

    From ninja_king_returns, on Tue 19 May 2:29AM

  15. Let's hope that it will happen again what followed­ Ranieri's exit at Valencia and Chelsea, a winning­ team. Ranieri is a master at building teams and youth­ development but takes very little credit for it. Juve­ has benefitted immensly from his tenure but he has made­ mistakes in going against the old guard at Juve. The­ way he never gave juve legend Trezeguet a proper chance­ since coming back from injury was his biggest mistake.­ Slowly the managment and the fans turned against him as­ the results were missing. I am sure Ferrare is a­ terrific guy and probably right for this moment but­ long term he is too untested for such a big job, mind­ you I wouldn't be surprised considering how Secco­ was promoted from team manager to Sport Director.

    From Morituri, on Tue 19 May 2:05AM

  16. sign Rijkaard, he'll turn Juve into one of Europe­ top dog again..!

    maybe Milan or even Chelsea will also­ try to sign him..

    From gorka, on Tue 19 May 1:34AM

  17. trezeguet has to start with del piero

    From Omar F, on Mon 18 May 9:51PM

  18. It was about time.....Juve is not some club where you­ can learn coaching.....and Ranieri isn't a real ­ world-class coach.....he just thinks he is....

    From strale90, on Mon 18 May 9:30PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    WHAN A WAKE OPP WELL A NO IM GOANAY BE IM GOANAY BE­ THA MON HOO WAKES OPP NAXT TAY U. WHAN I GO OOT YEAH I­ NO IM GOANAY BE THA MON HOO GOES ALANG WATH U. AF I­ GET DRANK WELL I NO IM GOAN TAY BE THA MON HOO GEETS­ PASHED NAXT TAY YOU . WELL I WAD WACK FAVE HANDRAD­ MEELS OND I WAD WACK FAVE HANDRAD MAR DO DO DO DO DO­ DO. 500 MEELS, THA PROCLEEMARS.

    From donneysbeck, on Mon 18 May 9:23PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Fu'kk off you piece of sh'it. You are usefull­ for nothing. Juve is bigger than such a kr'ap­ coach.

    From Half A Brain, on Mon 18 May 8:41PM
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