Assuming that Didier Deschamps resignation was part of the Juventus game plan, then the next presumption is that the replacement has already been lined up and is waiting in the wings.
I must admit that I thought Lippi was a certainty to succeed, despite his statements earlier this year to expressing his desire to extend his sabbatical for a longer period. The quote from him yesterday came as a shock to me, though I realize that a number of you here are not so surprised.
Which leaves me wondering about exactly who is going to be taking the hot seat.
I think I share the doubts, concerns and anxieties about appointing Walter Novellino. This purely on the basis that he appears to be a man with very little passion for winning. Somehow, I can see troubles ahead in recruiting the best talent if he got the job. His record at Sampdoria is patchy at best.
Regards Vialli, I have similar doubts about his effectiveness as a coach and feel that we would be taking a retrograde step after the Deschamps experience.
Of those that Juventus were linked with last year, Prandelli and Spaletti, these both appear more eminently suitable in terms of the feeling you get about the way they would approch the job, especially in demanding the guarantee of having a meaningful input on tranfer policy - incoming and outgoing.
The thing that particularly worries me is the spectre of a return by Fabio Capello. The path seem clearer for him than anyone else at this moment, given the noises coming out of the Bernabeu that Getafe coach Bernd Schuster has been lined up to replace Capello as from the end of the La Liga season.
Whatever happens, I'm expecting an announcement in about a weeks time.