Whilst chairmen behave badly, Marotta's Juventus win with class
13 January at 19:35
It's far from easy to run a club the classy way. It's incredible complicated to pull off.
A quick look at the latest headlines should give the uninformed reader a good general picture of what Serie A's movers and shakers are capable of. The likes of Maurizio Zamparini, Enrico Preziosi and Claudio Lotito fire coaches continuously, (preferably after wins), treat players like stickers and are certainly not alien to bouts of arrogance.
In Rome, Rudi Garcia has long since been emasculated, having his decisional power (and any implicit backing) taken away from him in summer before being unceremoniously dumped just two games into 2016, his replacement having to fly to America to seek presidential approval. Roma's ultras are still boycotting the games, and bouts of infighting has also made the papers.
Milan themselves are little better: the last few days have seen Galliani meet with former Italy Coach Marcello Lippi, as well as the sale of dud Luiz Adriano, the inability to bring this frustrating Bee saga to a close, and the Diavolo being linked to more Roma and Genoa players.
A sad picture indeed.
Among all the chaos, the infighting and the low blows, one man emerges: Giuseppe Marotta. And no, his good behaviour isn't all due to the winning. Remember the early days, when the fans even went as far as to insult him when Gigi Delneri wasn't doing well? Remember the below the belt attacks from the likes of Claudio Lotito, to name just one chairman? Yet Marotta never lost his sharpness, aplomb or style.
Those who have known Juventus' Technical Director for a quarter of a century can tell you that he's always been like this, that he's behaved in much the same way whether he was jousting with Europe's elite or slugging it out in the minor leagues with Ravenna or Venezia.
Class doesn't come from winning the Scudetto or the UCL, or even from being rich: we've seen men in his position fail to rise above things even when they were on the podium. It's not a coincidence that Marotta doesn't need to be confrontational with those who ask him polite questions, nor does he feel to need to tell huge, whopping lies: the former Samp wheeler-dealer says what he can, otherwise he just keeps quiet.
This is in no way a hagiography: if Marotta has survived this long in football, he owes that to a good dose of craftiness, too. But there are ways of behaving even in a world as cut-throat as this, and Marotta has chosen an MO that we like, and that comes off even better when compared to some of his colleagues.
If I had to compare him to a football coach, I would argue that Marotta is the Ancelotti of his line of work. Carletto doesn't feel the need to belittle or mistreat anyone, and he's able to consider people without assuming that they're there to con him.
Though no-one's a saint, some men (and women) in football can win with good manners and style, and Marotta and Ancelotti are two of them. Roma and Milan would do well to follow their example.
Stefano Agresti @steagresti, translated by Edo Dalmonte @edodalmonte
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