++ [ originally posted by Nicole ] ++
from: Sky Sports
April 1, 2005
Juve look to turn fortunes around
Its been a bad year for Juve, after ex-manager Fabio Capello, sued the club following his sacking at the end of last season. The Turin giants, turned to former coach Lippi in there bid to turn the fortunes around, after 7 straight defeats on the bounce, towards the end of last season, saw them fail to even qualify for the UEFA Cup.
With the forced retirement of Del Piero, after he damanged his crutial ligaments in both knees, after a horror tackle by Inter's Materazzi, which saw the player banned for 2 years, Juve were left suprisingly lightweight in attack, suffering humiliating home defeats to Roma and Messina, 4-0 in both games. Whilst the latter went on to claim a place in the UEFA Cup.
Manager Marcello Lippi, blamed the clubs mis-fortunes on former coach Fabio Capello's lack of disipline, which saw several bust-ups between players and coachs towards the end of last season.
Lippi: Fabio (Capello) madesome very poor judgements in his handling of players, towards the end of last season, which caused for a lack of team spirit in the dressing room'.
Fabio Capello even went on to beg former club, AS Roma, eventually Serie A champions, to allow him to return in some position at the club. Roma President Sensi, refused to allow Capello to return, forcing Capello to seek employment elsewhere. He was later appointed manager of Real Madrid, who went on to be relegated from La Liga.
On a journey back to Madrid, from Barcelona. Madrid's team plane, mysteriously came down in bad conditions. All players were rescued from the crash site, however manager Capello was never found again. Some players said they saw him 'sneaking out, in the middle of the night'. Capello is pre-sumed drowned!