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 15 - 34 of 54

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  1. HE MUST BE FAVOURATE TO TAKE OVER AT SPURS IN NOVEMBER­ WHEN SPURS WILL BE STRUGGLING IN THE RELEGATION ZONE.

    From valach, on Mon 18 May 8:36PM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Sergio
    lol ranieri is @#$%.

    From kuledX, on Mon 18 May 8:05PM

  3. teams need to stop sacking ranieri and give him the­ respect he diserves otherwise they will be treated with­ the contempt they diserve

    From adrian b, on Mon 18 May 8:03PM

  4. Ranieri's been a great gaffer taking into­ consideration that he already built the Chelsea team­ around Frank Lampard and John Terry before Mourinho­ even came in... I wish him the best and believe that he­ can do a wonderful job at City, Bolton, Rovers, Pompey­ etc if he wants to...

    From Erskine Sam, on Mon 18 May 7:30PM

  5. ANTONIO CONTE + CIRRO FERRARA -will be new Juve coaches

    From jsv023, on Mon 18 May 7:13PM

  6. He had to go. Whether or not he could have turned­ around Juve's fortunes is immaterial. You don't­ go 7 games without a win at the crucial stage of the­ season and not answer for it. 3rd place last year was­ good, 3rd place (let alone 4th) this year just­ can't be seen as progress. Many thanks to Ranieri­ for his contribution and I wish him well for his next­ club.
    Do consdier what might have happened had that­ Nedved shot against chelsea at the end of the 1st leg­ had gone the other side of the post and we hadn't­ gone down to 10 men in the second.

    From Simon, on Mon 18 May 7:03PM

  7. Man City time to hire a serious Coach!

    From Sergio, on Mon 18 May 6:58PM

  8. Man City is the best for you Ranieri!
    Make the team­ like you started doing in Chelsea!
    You know the story!

    From Sergio, on Mon 18 May 6:56PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Really ?lol.........Just heard that he is ho-oking up­ with a nice gi-rl on the inter-esting cl-ub called: ---­ Tallconnect Co M , really ? Sounds it is a famoaus­ on-line service.

    From tinadoing23, on Mon 18 May 6:53PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    wenger or benitez? lol no chance for Juve o.O

    From peri, on Mon 18 May 6:00PM

  11. Ranieri is a great trainer, however now it was time to­ go. I wish you good luck and hope you´re going to coach­ another good club (pleae not inter, ac milan, bayern­ munich and real madrid)

    From Alex, on Mon 18 May 5:58PM

  12. great man,great manager,one of the very few managers to­ show his emotions.remember the champions league qf away­ to arsenal? i am a crazy crazy man!best post match­ interview of a manager? hope he comes back to the­ premiership,would be a great sight,much better than all­ the @#$% between ferguson,benitez and wenger.good luck­ tinkerman!

    From peterjmac, on Mon 18 May 5:56PM

  13. this is a bit harsh on Ranieri, but i think someone­ like wenger or benitez could be a good replacement.

    From yemi, on Mon 18 May 5:47PM

  14. rofl about time xDD

    From nBz., on Mon 18 May 5:31PM

  15. Finally! Thank you Ranieri for what you've done for­ us, but Juve now need more. And good luck to you in­ future teams (unless you're coaching Inter :p)

    From Sam J, on Mon 18 May 5:27PM

  16. The man is an absolute gent and the game needs more of­ him. His dignity when Abramovich binned him for no­ particular reason was a lesson to everyone involved in­ football. I also happen to think he's a good­ manager. If by any fluke they stay up, Newcastle might­ like to bring him in so that Shearer can learn from­ him.

    From wittsy, on Mon 18 May 5:27PM

  17. He must be favourite for next chelsea manager.

    From codonnell95, on Mon 18 May 5:27PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    RANIERI FOR LIVERPOOL!!! SACK THE FAT WAITER

    From john, on Mon 18 May 5:21PM

  19. Come back to Chelsea, i wish Jose was coming back but­ Ranieri would be good!

    From Jane P, on Mon 18 May 5:20PM

  20. as a true juventus fan i've got to say thank you to­ Ranieri, he did so much for us, he helped us get back­ to a stable Serie A club again, and recovered us from­ the scandal... I admit that we were going through a­ woeful run, but it's not only his fault, it's­ also the players fault.... the coach isnt responsible­ for what happens on the pitch, he's responsible the­ tactics and how the players come onto the pitch.... No­ hard feelings though, because we cannot blame­ everything on him, he helped us through hard times, but­ just couldn't get through the pressure sadly.. He­ still deserves to be praised and respected though, as­ we shoudln't forget that we're only a few years­ in the Serie A again since the scandal... We'll be­ stronger than ever next year again. Thank you Ranieri­ and all the best in your managerial career!!

    From chukwuekuakinyemi, on Mon 18 May 5:14PM
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