Back To Serie A!!! (2 Viewers)

Snoop

Sabet is a nasty virgin
Oct 2, 2001
28,186
I was imagining myself beside Boumsong, but I don't think two centimetres will make a big difference:D



Aha. I don't know why, but to me the default nationality for each Amr is Egyptian.:oops:
Amr mousa, Amr diab maybe because of these names? :D
 

sateeh

Day Walker
Jul 28, 2003
8,020
since we are back in serie A i thought this team deserves a tribute, the whole team put in a great effort and i just want to recognize that.

We sometimes forget that about 85% of this team would get a place in some team in Serie A but they stuck with the club to help it back.

I just wanted to Grazie :pint: , all of you will be champions for this club and you earned your place in its history.
 
OP

ReBeL

The Jackal
Jan 14, 2005
22,871
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #270
    Juventus back after season of purgatory


    ROME - This time last year the ’Old Lady’ was on her knees, her legs buckling under the strain of Calciopoli, Italy’s biggest ever match-fixing scandal.

    Juventus were contemplating their first ever campaign in the second division after being banished to Serie B with a nine-point penalty for their involvement in the furore. Many big names departed for pastures new and the future looked awfully bleak for Italy’s most successful and best supported club.

    But following a swift promotion — masterminded by former Juve player Didier Deschamps before he fell out with the club and quit — a major boardroom overhaul and a host of new signings, ’La Vecchia Signora’ is back on her feet and ready to reclaim her place at the top of Serie A.

    Gone are the two architects of Juventus’ web of corruption - general manager Luciano Moggi and director Antonio Giraudo — while on the pitch several new players have been drafted in.

    Claudio Ranieri has replaced Deschamps as coach, while Italian World Cup striker Vincenzo Iaquinta and Portuguese midfielder Tiago are among an influx of reinforcements.

    John Elkann, heir to Fiat, the Italian car manufacturing giant which own Juventus, insists the Turin club are stronger than ever after putting their house in order.

    “Being in Serie B was tough and it would have been better had we been able to avoid it — nobody enjoyed a season in purgatory,” he said.

    “Now we are back in Serie A with a clear conscience and strong squad - on the pitch and off it.”

    Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli predicted the club would make life difficult for their main rivals, Inter and AC Milan.

    “We will make sure we give everyone a hard time, and as always we will play to win every fixture,” he said.

    “In Ranieri we have a great, experienced coach and I am more than satisfied with the signings we have made. It’s been a real team effort, with (CEO Jean-Claude) Blanc and (sporting director Alessio) Secco the main protagonists. Blanc is very good in transfer dealings, he’s like a poker player.”

    Expectations are high at Juventus after a summer makeover but Ranieri, who guided Parma to survival on the last day of the Serie A season, warned the club’s fans not to expect miracles.

    “We have a burning desire for victory — it’s in the DNA of this club,” said the former Chelsea manager.

    “First we’ll try to demonstrate it domestically, and then in Europe. I can guarantee I will tell my players the one thing I have always said in my career — I don’t care who we’re playing, I just want to win.

    “But the fans must understand that rebuilding a squad and returning it to its past glories will take some time.”

    As well as bringing in several new faces, Juve managed to hold onto World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, French striker David Trezeguet and Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved who will provide some much-needed experience as they navigate their way back in the big time.

    While Italy were celebrating World Cup victory last year, Juventus hit their nadir.

    But twelve months is a long time in football, and with a nip here and a tuck there, the Old Lady is starting to look glamorous again.

    By Stefano Blin
     
    OP

    ReBeL

    The Jackal
    Jan 14, 2005
    22,871
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #271
    Well, I didn't like his description of the situation but some guys may find this interesting:

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    Year after scandal, relegation, Juventus on way back


    One of the most well-worn clichés in sports is that "staying at the top is tougher than getting there." It's also one of the most idiotic. If you're smart and have even the most basic resources at your disposal you can, once you attain success, parlay it into a virtuous cycle, making it even harder for the competition to knock you off your perch.

    Juventus, of course, grew used to being on top, whether by fair means or foul (as was revealed in last summer's Calciopoli scandal), over the past decade. But that hegemony was smashed by the scandal, which saw Juve relegated to Serie B, publicly humiliated and forced to sell many of its stars. A year after its summer of shame, Juventus is back in Serie A, for what promises to be a very different experience.

    The likes of Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, and, of course, Ale Del Piero are still around, as are David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved. But much of the midfield and defense have been radically overhauled. Plus, there is an entirely different aura around the club, mostly due to the choice of manager, Claudio Ranieri, who replaced Didier Deschamps (despite the Frenchman leading Juve to the Serie B title).

    Ranieri beat out Gianluca Vialli for the job. Among the decisive factors, was that, unlike Vialli, the former Valencia boss had no ties to the old Juve, either as a player or as a coach. But another key factor had to do with image. Whatever else one may think of him, Ranieri is a genuinely likeable guy, a true gentleman who avoids controversy and radiates fair play.

    Contrast this with the previous regime, the combination of manager Fabio Capello, chief executive Antonio Giraudo, vice president Roberto Bettega and general manger Luciano Moggi. Lapo Elkann, scion of the Agnelli family and one of the club's owners famously said about that quartet: "The fact that Moggi is the most likeable of the bunch says it all, doesn't it?"

    Winning friends is only part of the new Juve. Soon after promotion it became clear that the club had to build for next season. What's more, it had to do it from a severely weakened position. Two years ago, Juventus attracted more sponsorship money than any other club in the world: most of those contracts were voided following relegation. Two seasons without the Champions League (last year and this year) are also quite a blow, as is the lost stadium revenue from the year in Serie B.

    All of this left Juventus in a big financial hole, which meant this summer's transfer budget was rather limited. Those who expected the Bianconeri to roar back with a star-studded array of new faces are going to be disappointed. Instead, Juve went for guys who could help the team go to the next level which, at this stage, means -- at a minimum -- qualifying for the Champions' League.

    Along the way, Juve has strengthened every department, albeit quietly. Jorge Andrade and Zdenek Grygera may not be box-office players but they are solid veterans who will tighten up the back four. The new faces in midfield have a similar profile: Tiago, formerly of Lyon and Chelsea, Hasan Salihamidzic, picked up on a free from Bayern, and the Argentine Sergio Almiron, one of Serie A's unsung heroes last year. All are solid, workman-like pros with the added bonus of not costing too much in terms of wages or transfer fees, much like Vincenzo Iaquinta, a World Cup-winning center forward, nabbed on the cheap from Udinese.

    For an aristocratic club like Juventus, it's quite the blue-collar revolution. It also leaves Ranieri with a very large squad, one which includes varied constituencies, from gifted up-and-comers (Domenico Criscito, Raffaele Palladino, Claudio Marchisio) to holdover superstars from the old Juve (Camoranesi, Del Piero, Nedved, Trezeguet and Buffon) to the new signings.

    Keeping everyone happy and finding enough playing time in a season with no European action won't be easy. Particularly since you have to wonder how many of these guys fit into Ranieri's plan. In fact, it's an open secret that Nedved's decision to play another year was seen as something of a mixed blessing. Equally, the club tried to sell Camoranesi and Trezeguet but nobody came close to matching Juve's valuation. And so Juve re-signed them to long-term deals (through 2010 and 2011, respectively) with the club's spin doctors putting out the message that two "crucial cogs" to Juve's future had been put into place with the contract extensions.

    Whether this was the case or whether Juve just found itself stuck with these guys and preferred giving them new deals rather than losing them on free transfers next summer remains to be seen. What does seem indisputable, however, is that Ranieri will have plenty to sink his teeth into this season. He's not just rebuilding a side. He and Juve's new executives are rebuilding a whole club, a brand, a way of doing business. And they are doing it at one of the most historic and tradition-rich clubs in the world, after making a clean break from its recent past. It's a tall order indeed.

    By Gabriele Marcotti
     

    cunninlynguists

    Amsterdam Ambassador
    May 7, 2006
    3,249
    hes kinda right
    even with the signings we have made, in my mind not really players that could be decisive for us, we must be happy with a 5-6th place next season
    dont expect miracles, and especialy no scudetto
    to play CL in 2008-2009 will only be a dream that wont come true
     
    OP

    ReBeL

    The Jackal
    Jan 14, 2005
    22,871
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #275
    Let the games begin


    At long last, the long hard walk out of the hell of the Italian Serie B has come to an end. Juventus have once again shown that they are the best team on the field, and despite all the allegations and insinuations thrown about by its detractors, it is still the most popular team around. Even with a heavily depleted side, and with a nine point penalty, Juventus still managed to win the title and doing so with a handsome margin over its competitors, attracting to its away-games sell out crowds.

    All Juventus fans should be proud of the achievements attained by the club during these past months. Despite the difficulties faced, not least the long list of injuries suffered, Juventus still manage to obtain its objective of immediate promotion to the Italian Serie A. In so doing, it has given to the Italian game young promising stars of the likes of Palladino, Piccolo, Marchisio, De Ceglie and Paro.

    Many questions concerning last year’s decision to penalize Juventus on the basis of as yet judicially unproven allegations still remain unanswered. Doubts as to why Juventus was singled out by being demoted while other clubs weren’t, will probably never be completely cleared. As Juventus fans, I believe that we have a duty never to forget the events of this past year, and to push so that the club does all that is within its possibility to clear its name once and for all. What happened last summer was, in my view, nothing more than a miscarriage of justice.

    This said, however, the club has shown that it is willing to put the past behind it and to start off a new phase in its history. The advent of Ranieri as Coach, and the signings of world cup winner Iaquinta, and players of the quality of Almiron, Thiago, Grygera, Salihamidzic, and Andrade are concrete evidence that the club will this year be aiming very high.

    Further confirmation of this, if any was ever needed, is the fact that Juventus have managed to retain the services of all of its stars, namely Del Piero, Buffon, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, and Nedved. At the same time, the squad has been further strengthened by the inclusion of some of the finest and most exciting young players around, including Italian Under-21 nationals Criscito and Nocerino. And all this when there are still some five weeks left for the closure of the transfer market, with the concrete possibility of Juventus managing to strengthen its squad even further.

    For us, Maltese fans, last season remains a memorable one, with the visit of Italian world cup winner Gigi Buffon. The Committee worked hard so that Buffon’s visit would remain a special occasion in the memory of all the members of the Juve Club Vero Amore Malta who flocked to the club’s premises to meet him. As Buffon himself has stated recently, a big influence on his decision to remain at Juventus was the sheer enthusiasm, love, support and encouragement which the Juventus supporters throughout Italy and beyond demonstrated to him on each encounter. I am sure that Buffon had Malta in mind as well when he made such a statement.

    The Committee remains committed to work even harder to make next season, if at all possible, even more memorable than the last.

    Everything considered, next season should really be an exciting one, with the Old Lady, as Juventus is affectionately referred to, being a protagonist in both the race for the title and the Italian Cup. This is good for the sport because, as could be easily evidenced during last season’s Serie A campaign particularly with the dwindling television audiences, there was really a feeling that something was missing.

    To all our adversaries we say, here we come. Let the games begin, and may the best team win.

    Dr. Keith Grech
     

    PhRoZeN

    Livin with Mediocre
    Mar 29, 2006
    15,841
    Juve seeded in Serie A draw
    Saturday 28 July, 2007
    Despite spending last season in Serie B, Juventus will be seeded in Tuesday’s 2007-08 Serie A fixtures draw.

    The Bianconeri may be among the newly promoted sides, but they are still being treated as one of the giants of the sport.

    It is reported that the Lega Calcio has decided to put Juve in the seeds for the draw set to take place on Tuesday evening at 18.00 UK time.

    Traditionally the teams are seeded so that the big clubs do not face each other in the first three rounds of the campaign.

    Being among the new boys, it was very likely that the opening game of the Serie A season would have been a bitter grudge match between Juventus and Inter.

    To avoid this possibility, Juve will be seeded along with Milan, Roma and Lazio for the draw in Rome.

    The decision will only be confirmed on Monday, but talk of favouritism could well be misplaced.

    According to the 'Corriere dello Sport’, the seeding of Juve was in fact requested by the other major clubs, who do not want the risk of facing Claudio Ranieri’s side immediately.

    channel4
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I smell fear :)
     

    Snoop

    Sabet is a nasty virgin
    Oct 2, 2001
    28,186
    Juve seeded in Serie A draw
    Saturday 28 July, 2007
    Despite spending last season in Serie B, Juventus will be seeded in Tuesday’s 2007-08 Serie A fixtures draw.

    The Bianconeri may be among the newly promoted sides, but they are still being treated as one of the giants of the sport.

    It is reported that the Lega Calcio has decided to put Juve in the seeds for the draw set to take place on Tuesday evening at 18.00 UK time.

    Traditionally the teams are seeded so that the big clubs do not face each other in the first three rounds of the campaign.

    Being among the new boys, it was very likely that the opening game of the Serie A season would have been a bitter grudge match between Juventus and Inter.

    To avoid this possibility, Juve will be seeded along with Milan, Roma and Lazio for the draw in Rome.

    The decision will only be confirmed on Monday, but talk of favouritism could well be misplaced.

    According to the 'Corriere dello Sport’, the seeding of Juve was in fact requested by the other major clubs, who do not want the risk of facing Claudio Ranieri’s side immediately.

    channel4
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I smell fear :)

    I don't like these kind of double standards
     

    AngelaL

    Jinx Minx
    Aug 25, 2006
    10,215
    I just heard that Ibrahimovic was injured in the friendly against Valencia.Hope it is serious!! Great news!
    Did Navarro give him a nose job like Burdisso's? :p :D

    Juve seeded in Serie A draw
    Saturday 28 July, 2007

    .......................

    The decision will only be confirmed on Monday, but talk of favouritism could well be misplaced.

    According to the ‘Corriere dello Sport’, the seeding of Juve was in fact requested by the other major clubs, who do not want the risk of facing Claudio Ranieri’s side immediately.

    channel4
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I smell fear :)
    :agree: Plus the blatant "favoritism" towards the cowardy custards who are scared we'll knock them out in the first game against them.
     

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